Blinken threatens Russia with 'resolute, massive' response if it invades Ukraine
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has threatened Russia's foreign minister with a "resolute, massive, and united Transatlantic response" should the country decide to invade neighboring Ukraine. Moscow has rejected the US claims that it is preparing to invade Ukraine.
Blinken said on Saturday that he had spoken with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on phone to discuss the "acute" situation at the Russian-Ukraine border.
The United States has announced it will deploy 3,000 additional soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division to Poland as part of NATO’s military buildup in eastern Europe, a move that is likely to increase further tensions with Russia.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday ordered the US troops be sent to Poland, increasing the number of American forces deployed to and repositioned to eastern Europe to 6,000.
Despite these US provocations, Blinken on Saturday called on Moscow to engage in "good-faith discussions,” and resolve the issue diplomatically.
"The Secretary made clear that a diplomatic path to resolving the crisis remained open, but it would require Moscow to deescalate and engage in good-faith discussions," a readout from the State Department said.
"He reiterated that should Moscow pursue the path of aggression and further invade Ukraine, it would result in a resolute, massive, and united Transatlantic response."
This comes in an environment of massively heightened tensions, an intensive anti-Russian propaganda campaign by Washington, and deployment of forces and equipment throughout most of the former Warsaw Pact nations and three former Soviet republics that have joined NATO, with at least two others (Georgia and Ukraine) not yet admitted as formal members but who are involved in military cooperation, including hosting military assets, with the US and NATO.
Biden administration officials claimed Russia has assembled 110,000 troops along its border with Ukraine and is preparing for a "large-scale" invasion of the country, as the Biden administration keeps sending troops to eastern Europe to increase NATO military buildup there.
Last week, The Washington Post, citing a US military and intelligence assessment, reported that “Russia could seize Kiev in days and cause 50,000 civilian deaths in Ukraine.”
Russia has called the US intelligence assessment of a possible invasion of Ukraine “madness and scaremongering.”
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