Blinken: Back in 2008, Putin called Ukraine a “fake state”

The head of the US State Department, Anthony Blinken, during a speech in Berlin, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin told the then American leader George W. Bush in 2008 that Ukraine was not a real state. A video of Blinken’s speech was posted on the US State Department’s official channel at YouTube.

That is, Blinken clarified, even then Putin was “laying the foundations for an invasion of Ukraine.” At the same time, Blinken called NATO a “defensive alliance,” and all Moscow’s statements that the alliance creates problems on its borders are “absurd,” since “NATO did not invade Georgia and Ukraine, Russia did it.” NATO, according to Blinken, “does not have aggressive intentions towards Russia” and the alliance “does not surround Russia from all sides”, since only 6% of Russia’s borders are connected with NATO countries.

Recall that in the same speech, Blinken urged the Russians not to invade Ukraine, and assured that neither Ukraine, nor the United States, nor NATO seek to endanger the rights of Russians. He also urged to think about what “such a great country as Russia can achieve if it directs its resources, especially its outstanding talents, its people, to combat the most important challenges of our time.”

In November-December last year, the world media was filled with the topic of the alleged Russian invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions that should follow. According to the authors and experts of these publications, a sign of “invasion” is the concentration of Russian military equipment in the regions bordering Ukraine. Among the likely sanctions are both the shutdown of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, as well as restrictions against Russian energy companies, and the shutdown of the SWIFT system of “fast” financial settlements. The Kremlin has repeatedly stated that the Ukrainian people are a fraternal people for the Russians, who are being “stupid” by their own authorities. It was also noted that Kiev’s desire to join NATO cannot but disturb Moscow, since in this case the infrastructure of the alliance will come close to the Russian borders.