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Blinken Gives Bellicose Interview to German TV

Jan. 20, 2022 (EIRNS)—Appearing today on the German ZDF TV program “Heute Journal,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken showed no signs of tempering his position towards Russia. The first question was on the risk of Russia invading Ukraine. Blinken’s assessment: “The risk is real; the risk is high. Russia has massed considerable forces on Ukraine’s border: 100,000 troops. It continues to send forces near Ukraine, including most recently to Belarus. So the risk is very serious, and it’s not just the fact that there are forces massed there.” Claiming that the crisis “has been created by Russia,” Blinken maintained that the U.S. had shown many years of goodwill to Russia, but had been rebuffed.

Anchor Bettina Schausten remarked that Biden’s differentiation between a Russian invasion of Ukraine and a “minor incursion” had been “corrected.” Blinken agreed, saying that such soft warfare methods as pushing for a coup are what Biden meant, and that “If a Russian soldier crosses into Ukraine, then we have a profound problem, a clear attack on Ukraine, whether it’s one soldier or a thousand soldiers.”

He said that it’s not just the U.S. that is threatening Russia with punishing countermeasures, but all of the allies. “I can’t remember a time in my own experience where there’s been closer consultation on an issue of major importance and a challenge to our common security.”

Overall, he stated, “I don’t anticipate any breakthroughs” in his Geneva meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov.

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