Blinken: U.S. intelligence sees no withdrawal of Russian forces

“We have yet to see any pullback, any withdrawal of Russian forces from around Ukraine’s borders.  We’re watching that very carefully, and again, it’s very important to look at what Russia actually does, not what it says it’s doing,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with ICTV Ukrainian TV channel.

In this context, he stressed that the United States was ready to respond to any developments, including a diplomatic dialogue with Russia in case of de-escalation, or provide a strong response in case of new aggression.

Blinken noted that the United States shared all necessary information with Ukraine. “We’ve done everything we can to share whatever information we receive, get access to, share it with – of course, with our Ukrainian partners as well as with other allies and partners,” the U.S. Secretary of State noted.

He added that it was still unknown whether Putin had made any decision to invade, but that he had put in place the capacity “to act on very, very short notice.”

In addition, Blinken underscored that the intentions expressed by the Russian Duma to recognize the occupied territories in eastern Ukraine as independent are totally inconsistent with the Minsk Agreements.

“And so if Russia is serious about implementing Minsk, it has to reject this effort, and it’s certainly something that we don’t recognize and don’t accept,” the official said.

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