US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had been cancelled. The meeting is scheduled for Thursday.
“Last week, I agreed to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on February 24 to discuss our country’s concerns about European security. [Sergey Lavrov] make clear the total rejection of diplomacy. It doesn’t make sense to continue the meeting at this point,” Blinken said during a joint news conference with Ukraine’s foreign minister.
Blinken said the US “remains committed to diplomacy if Russia is prepared to take steps” that can give the international community confidence that it is “serious about reducing” tensions.
“We will not allow Russia to lay claim to the pretense of diplomacy while accelerating its march along the path of conflict and war,” he said.
In a last-minute press conference, the US Secretary of State further said that Vladimir Putin’s plan has always been to invade Ukraine and take it back as part of Russia.
Putin’s speech showed that he sees Ukraine “not as a sovereign state with the right to territorial independence, but rather as a creation of Russia and therefore a vassal of Russia,” he said.
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