The United States is sharpening its rhetoric – and both President Joe Biden and Foreign Minister Antony Blinken are now warning that a Russian attack on Ukraine may come in the next few days.
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The case is being updated
US President Joe Biden and Foreign Minister Antony Blinken are now coming out strongly and warning that a Russian attack on Ukraine may come in the next few days.
Blinken says this, among other things, in the UN Security Council on Thursday, reports the news agency Reuters.
Blinken believes that the Russians among them can use allegations of attacks with chemical weapons as a pretext for an invasion.
Russian authorities can announce today that there will be no invasion of Ukraine, Blinken says according to Reuters.
– Say it clearly, say it clearly to the world, he says.
Blinken says he has sent a letter to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and asked for a meeting next week, reports Reuters.
Expect a more responsible approach
In a response, Russia is taking a hard line against the West and the Western media’s portrayal of the threat of attack, reports the state-run Russian news agency Tass.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov now says that Moscow hopes that representatives of Western countries, and writers of Western media, will take a more serious and responsible approach to statements about attacks.
“Russia intends to wait for a more serious, responsible and honest approach from the representatives who make such rabid statements, and from the mass media who absolutely abuse these statements,” Peskov told Russian Channel 1, according to the news agency.
Tass further writes that in recent months Western media have repeatedly reported on the alleged possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, and that the media has also reproduced “exact dates” and times repeatedly for a possible invasion.
Despite the fact that NATO, the United States and the United Kingdom, among others, have said in recent days that Russia continues to send forces to the border with Ukraine, Russia itself insists that it has never had the goal of invading the country, but that it wants negotiations and security guarantees. from the West.
On Thursday, Russia delivered its response letter to the United States and NATO’s proposals related to the situation in Ukraine.
The White House confirms that they received the Russians’ response on Thursday afternoon, reports Reuters.
Biden: High risk of invasion
US President Joe Biden said earlier on Thursday that the risk of a Russian invasion is very high, and that no talks are planned with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Every indication indicates that they are prepared to enter Ukraine,” Biden told the American press.
“I think it can happen in the next few days,” Biden told the press.
However, the US president opened up that diplomacy is still a viable option.
– It is a clear diplomatic path. That is why I have asked Foreign Minister Blinken to go to the UN to give his statement today, Biden said and added:
– I have presented an alternative for Putin as well. There is a way through this, through diplomacy.
Asked if he would call Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden replied:
– I’m not calling Putin. I have no plans to call Putin now.
The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reports on Thursday that the US Deputy Ambassador Bartle Gorman has been deported from the country. They are now waiting for the US authorities to respond to the deportation.
According to Reuters, it is unclear what is the reason for the deportation.
RIA states that Gorman had a valid visa, and has been in Russia for less than three years.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calls Gorman’s deportation “unprovoked,” Reuters reports.
According to sources in the US State Department, Gorman left Russia last week, the news agency writes.
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