The United States does not rule out negotiations on Ukraine’s borders in the long term. This was declared by Antony Blinken, head of American diplomacy, on Thursday March 23 before a parliamentary committee in Washington.
To the question, does the United States support President Zelensky’s desire to recover Crimea ? This is what Antony Blinken answers: We believe there is one major principle at stake: we want peace. We want this conflict resolved. But we believe that, in our own interests, this peace must be just and lasting. We turn to the Ukrainians, it’s up to them to decide… Because what we don’t want is for the conflict to be resolved in a way that would allow the Russians to take time, to rearm and to attack again. »
Antony Blinken was specifically questioned by Republican lawmaker Chris Stewart on whether the United States supports President Volodymyr Zelensky’s desire to reclaim Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. The top diplomat, who believes that the conditions of a negotiation are not met, insisted that “ these are decisions that Ukrainians have to make about how they see their future and how this translates in terms of sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of the country “.
Antony Blinken thus seems to endorse the fact that the Ukrainians would have difficulty recovering all the territories annexed by Russia, in particular Crimea, according to Marie-Christine Bonzom, political scientist specializing in the United States: “ When he says “It depends on what the Ukrainians want”, perhaps it should be interpreted as “It depends on what the Ukrainians can accomplish militarily.” There is principled opposition from the United States and its European allies to Russian annexation, but there is still evasiveness in their response to this question. »
The United States assures all the same that it will continue to provide assistance, financial and military, to Ukraine, as much as it is necessary.
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