VOA interview with Blinken: Russia has a clear choice

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke in an exclusive interview with VOA Eastern Europe bureau chief Myroslava Gongadze in Kiev on Wednesday (January 19) about his talks with Ukrainian leaders and the prospect of preventing a Russian invasion of Ukraine .

Reporter: "Good afternoon. Today we are in Ukraine. It has been invaded and threatened by Russia. Putin is now asking the West to leave Ukraine on the grounds that it is within Russia's sphere of influence. Today we have the opportunity to discuss this with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. crisis. Thank you! Thank you for giving me this opportunity, thank you for taking the time…”

Secretary of State Blinken: "It was a pleasure to be with you."

Reporter: "Your administration says Russia could invade at any time. What is your administration going to do to deter Russian aggression? If Russia invades tomorrow, what are the top three steps you are going to take?"

Blinken: "First, we Russia has been presented with a clear choice between pursuing dialogue and diplomacy on the one hand, and confrontation and consequences on the other. We have just had a series of intensive diplomatic engagements with Russia, including our Direct engagement with NATO's Strategic Stability Dialogue and engagement with the NATO-Russia Council at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. I remain hopeful that Russia will pursue this diplomatic path. It is clearly preferable."

Reporter: "But the American..."

Blinken: "But, from your point of view, we also - we also made it clear that if Russia chooses to re-aggress Ukraine, we - and not only us, the United States, we, Many countries, across Europe, and even some outside Europe - will respond very forcefully and decisively in three ways. First, we've been working intensely on a broad range of sanctions, financial, economic, export controls and Other

Q: "Does this include...?"

Blinken: "I'm not going to elaborate on what they are, but we are coordinating closely with allies and partners in Europe. The second consequence is almost certainly further aid to Ukraine, Defensive military assistance. Third, it's almost certain that NATO will have to strengthen its own defenses on its eastern flank. You know, what's especially shocking about this thing is, speaking of this issue, back in 2014, President Putin has exacerbated what he said he wanted to prevent, as NATO had to strengthen itself and take other measures after Russia invaded Ukraine and seized Crimea and the Donbass region. So we clearly laid out the consequences for Russia, but also the preferred route to resolving differences diplomatically. We'll see which way President Putin decides to go."

Reporter: “Is kicking the Russia out of SWIFT and sanctions against Putin personally and his family under consideration?

Blinken: “What I can tell you is that it’s not just me saying this The G7 , and the world's major democratic economies, European Union, NATO have all the declared that as an institution, as a collection of countries, if Russia invades Ukraine again, there will be "tremendous consequences" for Russia, I use Exactly. We also said that the measures we are considering go well beyond the steps we have taken in the past, including in 2014. I will not detail them here or communicate the steps we have taken in advance. But I can tell you, The consequences will be severe. But again, I would like to insist on the fact that there is more to be gained by not going that way. We are well prepared to do so. But we are more inclined to see if we can resolve our differences, through Diplomatic resolution of concerns in both directions."

Reporter: “Russia has asked for a written response to the request to never accept Ukraine’s membership in NATO, — are you preparing such a written response? What kind of response?”

Blinken: “As I mentioned, we These important contacts were made last week, and now we have the opportunity, both for Russia, and for all of us - the United States, our European partners - to take note of what we hear from each other. Russian negotiators Already went back, should have consulted with President Putin. We did the same. In my case, with President Biden. The European side did the same with their leaders. The next step in the process It is to give me the opportunity to meet with Foreign Minister Lavrov in Geneva on Friday to see how Russia responds to what has been discussed. They will hear from us. But until then, as directed by President Biden, I am determined to To Kiev, to consult with our Ukrainian partners. Then tomorrow in Berlin to meet some of our closest European partners. That's exactly what we've been doing. Before and after any engagement with Russia, we had a very close consultation."

Reporter: "However, you did not answer my question, are you preparing a written response to the Russian request?"

Blinken: "The next step now is to meet with Foreign Minister Lavrov. Let's see where we are after Friday and we'll decide what to do then."

Reporter: "I have a question about Mr. Lavrov. You have an appointment to meet with him. Do you see any indication that the Kremlin is changing its stance?"

Blinken: "I can't say I've seen any direct evidence of this. Unfortunately, we continue to see a massive Russian buildup on the Ukrainian border, a process that seems to continue. On the other hand, the fact that we met in Geneva , the fact that we will discuss the dialogues and exchanges of the past 10 days also shows me that diplomacy is still an open possibility that we are determined to pursue as best we can. We want to leave no stone unturned in diplomacy because again , it's a better, more responsible way to deal with these issues."