Blinken: ‘No meaningful pullback’ from Russian troops at Ukrainian border
The United States and NATO allies say they have seen no pullback of Russian troops at the border but continue to urge diplomatic solutions.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the United States has seen no pullback of Russian forces at the Ukrainian border, disputing claims from Moscow that the Kremlin has pulled back some of its forces.
“Unfortunately, there’s a difference between what Russia says and what it does, and what we’re seeing is no meaningful pullback,” Blinken said in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday. “The contrary, we continue to see forces, especially forces that would be in the vanguard of any renewed aggression against Ukraine, continuing to be at the border to mass at the border.”
Blinken continued to detail the U.S. assesment in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” explaining that Russian troops “remain massed in a very threatening way along Ukraine’s borders. It would be good if they follow through on what they said. But so far, we haven’t seen it.”
The secretary’s remarks on Wednesday went further than those of a day earlier from President Joe Biden, who said that there can be a diplomatic resolution to the mass of Russian troops on Ukraine’s border but that “an invasion remains distinctly possible.”
While the Russian Defense Ministry says some troops were pulling back after completing military training, Biden said on Tuesday that Russian troops remain in a “threatening position.” NATO leaders have similarly said that their organization has seen no sign of deescalation.
“At the moment, we have not seen any withdrawal of Russian forces,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, according to the Associated Press. “If they really start to withdraw forces, that’s something we will welcome but that remains to be seen.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Blinken said that if the Russian parliament decides to ask President Vladimir Putin to recognize the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine — where Russian-backed separatists have waged a yearslong battle against the Ukrainian government — as independent, it would “undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and cause uncertainty in Russia’s diplomatic efforts.
Blinken said the recognition would “constitute a gross violation of international law, call into further question Russia’s stated commitment to continue to engage in diplomacy to achieve a peaceful resolution of this crisis and necessitate a swift and firm response from the United States in full coordination with our Allies and partners.”