US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken explained why Washington considers the threat to Kiev from Moscow “very serious”. Among the reasons are the buildup of military forces on the border, attempts to destabilize Ukraine and the propaganda campaign on social networks. According to Mr. Blinken, the United States has seen this before – in 2014.
“She (the threat. – “B”) is very serious, because we saw the concentration of significant forces near the border with Ukraine. We have seen efforts to destabilize within Ukraine, a propaganda campaign against Ukraine in social networks, which has increased in scale by about ten times, ”said Mr Blinken in an interview with Swedish television. The interview was recorded on December 2, the State Department published a transcript on December 5.
The secretary of state noted that Washington had already seen such moves by Moscow in 2014, when there was “an invasion of the Russian forces and those who work for them into Ukraine.” He believes that if the situation repeats itself, the consequences will be dire and they will not be in anyone’s interests. “Therefore, we thought it was important to very clearly explain to Russia the consequences that would arise in the event of its aggression against Ukraine. I hope this will affect the calculations of President Putin and Russia will choose a different course, ”added Mr Blinken.
The Secretary of State also noted that the United States is striving for a stable and predictable relationship with Russia. In his opinion, Washington will not be able to achieve this if Moscow moves in the direction of “confrontation and aggression with Ukraine.”
According to US media reports, US intelligence believes that Russia may launch an invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. The Russian Foreign Ministry called such articles “a special operation to aggravate the situation around Ukraine, shifting responsibility onto Russia. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry also declares the threat of a full-scale invasion.
On the aggravation of relations between Russia and Ukraine – in the material “Kommersant” “For our neighborly homeland.”
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