WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Russian counterpart on Friday that the Kremlin could alleviate tensions and concerns about possible attacks by eliminating unusual troops and equipment off the Ukrainian border.
The meeting between Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov came after Western officials, including President Joe Biden, have said they expect Moscow to launch an attack.
“If Russia wants to begin to convince the world that it has no aggressive intent toward Ukraine, a very good place to start would be by deescalating by bringing back and removing these forces from Ukraine’s borders,” Blinken said.
A meeting between Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov came as Western officials, including President Joe Biden, said they expected Moscow to invade Ukraine. American intelligence has revealed that Russia could attack within a month.
The US is unsure of Russia’s claim that it is not preparing for an attack on its former Soviet neighbor, Blinken said.
“If Russia wants to start convincing the world that it has no intention of invading Ukraine, the best place to start would be to demolish it by retrieving and removing these troops from Ukraine’s borders,” Blinken told reporters following a 90-minute meeting. and Lavrov in Geneva.
“We and all our partners and colleagues are equally committed to ensuring that we do our utmost to ensure in Russia that there will be a quick, strong and united response to any form of Russian atrocities against Ukraine,” Blinken added. .
Meanwhile, Russian officials have repeatedly called on the US to block the rise of NATO in the east, the world’s largest military alliance.
Russia also demanded that the US “establish military bases” in the territories of any former Soviet non-NATO allies, or “use its infrastructure in any military operations or improve cooperation with the two militants.”