US Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured the UN Security Council on Thursday that Russia’s plans to invade Ukraine include taking Kiev and assured that he proposed a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Russian Foreign, Sergey Lavrov.
The head of US diplomacy traveled to New York at the last minute to attend the United Nations Security Council meeting, convened to discuss the crisis in Europe.
Blinken reinforced the idea that Russia has plans to attack Ukraine in the coming days and that, for that, it will look for a “pretext” that justifies the attack.
According to the Secretary of State, this could include a false terrorist attack, an alleged discovery of mass graves, or even a real or fictional chemical weapons attack.
“Russia could describe this event as ethnic cleansing or genocide, using a joke on a concept we take seriously,” Blinken said.
The US Secretary of State stated that the Russian press has already started to spread “false warnings” to start justifying an eventual invasion.
In addition, Blinken assured that the next step in Russia’s plan will be to hold meetings between different governments, while bombing Ukraine, a blockade of communications in the neighbor and cyber attacks will follow.
“After that, Russian tanks and soldiers will advance on key targets that have already been identified and indicated in detailed plans. We believe these targets include Ukraine’s capital Kiev,” the American said.
According to Blinken, the government is confident that, by disclosing this information to the international community, it can influence Russia to “abandon the path of war.”
The secretary of state said he wrote Lavrov to propose a meeting in Europe next week, with the aim of preparing a possible summit between the heads of governments of the two countries.
In addition, he detailed that the United States also suggested meetings of the NATO-Russia Council and the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
According to Blinken, the hope is that these meetings can serve to reduce tension and reach agreement on the security concerns of all parties.
In recent hours, the US has played down all credibility of the announcement of the withdrawal of troops that were close to the border of Ukraine.
According to a US government source, all indications are that Russia says in public that it wants to negotiate and seek to reduce tensions, while in private, “it is mobilizing for war”.
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