US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stated that he decided to refuse to meet with the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov. The meeting of diplomats was to be held on February 24th. This is reported by Kommersant.
“There is no point in moving forward with this meeting. I consulted with our allies and partners, everyone agreed,” said Blinken at a meeting with the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Culeboy.
American diplomat said that on Tuesday sent a letter to Sergey Lavrov with a notification of the decision taken.
Speaking about the statements of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the recognition of the self-proclaimed “DPR” and “LNR”, Anthony Blinken noted that the statements of the President of the Russian Federation “show that he sees Ukraine as a subordinate Russian Federation, and not a sovereign state.” “President Putin’s deep concern yesterday and his today’s statements clearly show the world, as he sees Ukraine – not as a sovereign state with the right to territorial integrity and independence, but as something created by Russia and therefore subordinate to it. This is a completely false statement, Which ignores the story, international law and tens of millions of Ukrainians. Now, when we heard the words of President Putin himself, it only confirmed what we were talking. He always planned to invade Ukraine, take control of her and her people, destroy the Ukrainian democracy .. ., “said Blinken.
US Secretary of State stressed that if Russia continues to act in this direction, then the United States will introduce regular sanctions against the Russian Federation.