The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, warned this Friday in Australia that Russia could invade Ukraine “at any time, including during the Olympic Games”, which are held until the next day 20 in Beijing.
Blinken, who spoke these words in Melbourne after meeting with his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia, within the framework of the defense alliance of the Quad, stressed that all American citizens who are on Ukrainian soil “should leave now”, at the risk of an armed conflict breaking out.
“There are signs of a Russian escalation. We are in a window in which the invasion can begin at any time,” said the head of US diplomacy, insisting that Washington and allied countries are “strongly” committed to diplomacy and dialogue.
However, Blinken warned that they are also working on deterrence and defense measures and that Moscow will face “massive consequences” if it decides to invade Ukraine, including economic sanctions, export limitations and an increase in Ukraine’s and NATO’s military capabilities.
Likewise, the senior Washington official stressed the importance of supporting Ukraine in defending its “territorial integrity” and “sovereignty”.
In this sense, he warned that the change of border in Ukraine, with the threat of some 100,000 Russian soldiers deployed next to it and the military maneuvers in Belarus, could set a dangerous precedent in other regions such as the Indo-Pacific.
Blinken participated this Friday in a meeting of the defense alliance Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) together with the foreign ministers of Japan, Yoshimasa Hayashi; that of India, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, as well as the head of Australian diplomacy, Marise Payne.
Members of the quadrilateral alliance, created in 2007 but dormant for years until Biden decided to resurrect it a year ago, also addressed issues such as international “coercion” by “autocratic” governments in the region, not to mention China, as well as change climate and vaccines against covid-19, among other issues. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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