“Russia can invade Ukraine at any time”. Word of the White House
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a daily press conference on Tuesday afternoon: “We believe we are now at a stage where Russia could at any moment launch an attack on Ukraine. I would say that it is clearer than it seemed before ”.
In the conference it was confirmed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kiev this week, shortly after it was recently revealed that CIA Director William Burns did the same last week. "What Secretary Blinken will do is highlight very clearly that there is a diplomatic path to follow," Psaki said. "It is a choice of President Putin and the Russians to decide whether they will suffer serious economic consequences or not."
"No option is off the table" if #Russia "further invades Ukraine," @PressSec tells @WhiteHouse reporters. "We're now at a stage where Russia at any time could launch an attack on Ukraine." pic.twitter.com/mTEesS4oCg
– Steve Herman (@ W7VOA) January 18, 2022
In Geneva, therefore, Blinked is expected to meet the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. According to Psaki's briefing, he should ask Russia to "take immediate action to reduce the escalation". A great courtesy, we would say.
Russia recently confirmed that it has concentrated units in its own territory near Ukraine, but did not disclose numbers, after Kiev and Washington commonly accused the Kremlin of having at least 100,000 troops there in preparation for an invasion of Ukraine, something which the Russians vehemently and consistently denied.
At the same time, it appears the Biden administration is getting creative with its sanctions and who it is targeting. Instead of announcing new sanctions directly against Russia or Russian officials or entities, it was revealed in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that new actions will be taken against "pro-Russian agents in Ukraine". Therefore, for the first time, the punitive measures will be aimed directly at those deemed to be Russian delegates on the ground in eastern Ukraine :
As pressure builds for the United States and its European allies to act swiftly to discourage Russian escalation, the upcoming action against Ukrainian individuals rather than the Russian government underscores part of the administration's hesitation to pursue Moscow directly, the officials said. officials. The United States and its allies are hoping for a diplomatic breakthrough after four rounds of talks last week failed to narrow the gap between Moscow and Western nations.
The pending sanctions, which will freeze the assets of at least four people, could be announced as early as Thursday. It would be the latest in a series of actions under an executive order signed by President Biden last April that aims to punish people associated with Russia's foreign aggression.
The problem now is to get out of the impasse. The talks of the German foreign minister in Moscow did not go well, almost as it is obvious to expect, given the very wide range of points of view. What to do now? Are we sure that all of NATO is ready to die for Kiev , or rather for Russian-speaking Ukraine?
However, on Tuesday Psaki again stressed: "No option is out of the question, in our opinion." He told reporters: "We continue to consult closely with our European counterparts on the serious consequences for Russia should it further invade Ukraine." But it seems that Putin is well prepared to face even extreme sanctions, such as exclusion from SWIFT, the international payment system, which, among other things, would make it difficult for Europe to pay for gas supplies from Moscow. western. With the Chinese industrial power behind it, Moscow can do without the EU and the US, but not vice versa.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has sent armaments to Kiev, especially anti-tank weapons, and Russia will carry out military maneuvers with Belarus in contrast to the NATO threat …
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The article "Russia can invade Ukraine at any time". Word of the White House comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-russia-puo-invadere-lucraina-in-qualsiasi-momento-parola-di-casa-bianca/ on Wed, 19 Jan 2022 08:00:27 +0000.