In the Ukraine crisis, the US Secretary of State was visiting Berlin today. Antony Blinken met his German, French and British counterparts there. The objective of the United States is to ensure the support of European partners and to speak with one and the same voice to Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
The message sent this Thursday to Moscow is clear: the United States and its European allies are united in their desire to find a diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisise. United also behind possible sanctions against Russia if Vladimir Putin were to choose invasion rather than dialogue.
” If Russian military forces, regardless of their number, cross the Ukrainian border and commit further acts of aggression against Ukraine, this will prompt a swift and severe response from the United States and our allies and partners. “said Antony Blinken.
All of this we are undertaking to ensure that we speak and act with one voice on Russia. This unity gives us strength. A force that Russia does not have and will not be able to achieve. This is also the reason why Russia is constantly trying to divide us.
Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock urged Russia to take urgent steps towards de-escalation. “It is about nothing less than the preservation of the European peace order. It is for us existential. That’s why we have no choice but to defend it. And this applies even if possible sanctions would have economic consequences for ourselves,” she said.
The Russians want “Yalta 2”, that is to say the return of bloc against bloc, the return of the influenced zones.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, French Foreign Minister
In the event of an attack by Russia against Ukraine, the new German government has pledged to block the commissioning of the Northstream 2 gas pipeline, which should double Germany’s supply of Russian gas.
New meeting between Russians and Americans in Geneva
Antony Blinken must also meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to try to find a diplomatic solution in a file where the two powers remain deeply divided. This is the fourth time that Russians and Americans have met in Geneva. After three first meetings within the framework of the Dialogue on Strategic Stability, the last of which, on January 10, saw the two parties openly opposing each other on the Ukrainian file, Geneva once again finds itself in the spotlight for discussions that will ‘announce tense between the heads of diplomacy of the two countries.
►Also related: In Ukraine, Antony Blinken evokes an imminent “risk of invasion”
A little over ten days ago the negotiations took place between the Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Riabkov, and his American counterpart Wendy Sherman and did not bode well as the two parties seemed distant.
Since then the situation has become even more tense. Moscow continues to demand answers to its demands before new talks and also continues to mass equipment and troops not far from the Ukrainian border. This week, for example, soldiers and equipment were deployed in Belarus where joint military exercises are to be held soon.
In any case, Antony Blinken does not seem to have many illusions before this new meeting, even if he continues to publicly plead for a diplomatic solution.