Blinken headed to Europe, where NATO allies ‘deeply concerned’ by Russian military th

[Boats]

Blinken headed to Europe, where NATO allies ‘deeply concerned’ by Russian military threats
By: Washinton Examiner News - Joel Gehrke - Foreign Affairs Reporter - 04-12-21
Re: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/p...litary-threats

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ukrainian officials will travel to Brussels this week to meet with NATO allies for discussions about the “ongoing build-up of Russian military forces on Ukraine’s borders,” according to joint statements and Blinken’s team.

“There are more Russian forces massed on those borders than at any time since 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine,” acting Assistant Secretary of State Philip Reeker, who leads the State Department’s European affairs bureau, told reporters.

U.S. EYES RUSSIAN MOVES IN UKRAINE WITH SUSPICION (meaning they are worried).

Reeker declined to air any hypotheses about Russia’s motives in committing this military buildup at this juncture, but a bloc of major NATO allies condemned the “large ongoing build-up of Russian military forces on Ukraine’s borders and in illegally-annexed Crimea” in a statement from the G-7 — a group comprised of the United States and the six other leading industrialized democracies.

“These large-scale troop movements, without prior notification, represent threatening and destabilizing activities,” the G-7 communique said. “We call on Russia to cease it's provocations and to immediately de-escalate tensions in line with its international obligations.”

Kremlin officials have implied that a fresh Russian assault may be necessary to prevent “a human catastrophe” of the sort that unfolded during the Srebrenica genocide during the Bosnian War in 1995. “And all countries, including Russia, will undertake measures in order for such tragedies not to be repeated,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “The entire world, all civilized countries and European states in case of another Srebrenica in southeastern Ukraine will counteract this in every way possible in order to prevent the catastrophe.”

Western observers regard such statements as a cynical threat, given Putin’s previous admission that he had lied about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014 — a moment of candor that has since been erased from Russian government talking points.

“What we're focused on now is discussion and meeting with our allies and others who are equally concerned,” Reeker said. "And we're using tools like OSCE in Vienna, also this week, to try to address those concerns and see de-escalation by Russia, in terms of not only the military threat but also this disinformation and the rhetoric that’s flowing.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba likely will meet with Blinken on the sidelines of a NATO-Ukraine Council meeting this week, according to Reeker. “Moscow must stop fueling the military frenzy and immediately and explicitly confirm its commitment to a diplomatic settlement and ceasefire,” Kuleba said on April 1.

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Personal note: I hope they can work things out - we don't need another damn war
as it will only desiccate the land and kill many civvies in the area.
Regardless it won't be pretty - like many prior discussions China & North Korea
we need to make issues perfectly clear - that once nukes are used there will be no
reason why a counter measure's won't be made - causing undo damage all around the world.
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Boats