Blinken reaffirms U.S. support in call with Ukrainian foreign minister
U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a call with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Friday, reaffirmed Washington’s “unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” the State Department said.
Blinken and Kuleba discussed potential U.S. and allied responses to Russia’s military buildup along Ukraine’s borders and upcoming diplomatic engagements with Russia, State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. Blinken stressed there will be “no conversations about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
This week, the U.S. and Germany’s top diplomats issued a joint warning to Russia ahead of high-level security talks, pledging “enormous economic consequences” if Putin proceeds with an invasion of Ukraine.
Blinken said at the joint press talk on January 5 that U.S. has been “very clear that we’ll respond with very strong economic measures, including measures that have not been used in the past or previous episodes of Russian aggression that will inflict very significant costs on Russia’s economy and financial system. And that includes, again, powerful sanctions that we did not pursue, for example, in 2014 when Russia first invaded Ukraine.”
He also asserted it was the collective position of many countries, U.S. allies and partners. He recalled that European Council in its December 16 summit issued a statemnet stating “Any further military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences and severe cost in response, including restrictive measures coordinated with partners.”
Top U.S. and Russian officials will meet on January 10 for a strategic stability dialogue. “So the real question is whether Russia is serious about diplomacy, serious about de-escalation,” Blinken remarked, adding that “It’s very hard to make actual progress in any of these areas in an atmosphere of escalation and threat with a gun pointed to Ukraine’s head”.
With thousands of Russian troops massed on Ukraine’s border, the Biden administration has warned of unprecedented sanctions against Russia if it continues further military action against Ukraine.
