To lure Kremlin into conflict
Putin: US uses Ukraine as ‘instrument’
2/1/2022, 7:36 p.m
The fronts in the Ukraine conflict seem to be getting harder. While US Secretary of State Blinken is calling on Russia to withdraw troops from the Ukrainian border immediately, Kremlin boss Putin feels duped by the rejection of the security guarantees he has demanded.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the US and NATO of ignoring Russia’s security concerns over the Ukraine crisis. “We are carefully analyzing the written responses from the United States and NATO,” Putin said after talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. “But it is already clear that fundamental Russian concerns were ultimately ignored.” He also accused the US of using Ukraine as an “instrument”.
The United States and NATO responded in writing to Russian demands for “security guarantees” last week. In the letters, Washington and NATO rejected a NATO declaration that Putin had demanded a waiver of further eastward expansion and the withdrawal of US weapons from states in the former Soviet sphere of influence.
“I hope that we will find a solution in the end,” Putin said. However, he emphasized that this will “not be easy”. Washington’s main goal is to “contain” Russia. “Ukraine is just a tool to engage us in an armed conflict,” Putin said. In the past few weeks, Russia has massed more than 100,000 soldiers and heavy equipment on the Ukrainian border. The deployment of troops fuels fears that Russia is planning a major attack on Ukraine. The Kremlin denies any plans to attack Ukraine, but at the same time argues that it feels threatened by NATO.
Foreign Ministers see further “need for discussion”
Shortly before, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Russia in a telephone call to his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov for an immediate withdrawal of troops deployed on the border with Ukraine. Blinken insisted on an “immediate Russian de-escalation and the withdrawal of soldiers and equipment from the borders with Ukraine,” said US State Department spokesman Ned Price after the call. A Russian invasion of the neighboring country would have “rapid and serious consequences,” Blinken warned. In the crisis, Russia must continue to “follow a diplomatic path”.
Blinken reiterated US support for Ukraine’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity” and the right of every country to decide its own “foreign policy and alliances.” The latter is a reference to Ukraine’s ambitions to join NATO, which Russia flatly opposes. At the same time, Blinken emphasized the willingness of the US government to hold further consultations with Russia on security issues.
“We will insist on an honest conversation and an honest explanation as to why the West does not want to fulfill its obligations or only wants to do so selectively in its favor,” Lavrov said in a video message after the talks. The US Secretary of State agreed that “there is a need for further talks”.
A US State Department official, who asked to remain anonymous, said Lavrov said there was no indication that Russia was prepared to de-escalate the situation. “Nothing we have heard indicates that there will be a de-escalation in the next few days.”