Blinken avers US 'not actively encouraging Ukraine to retake Crimea' amid Russian warnings

US State Secretary, Antony Blinken, on Wednesday said that  United States has not been actively encouraging Ukraine "to retake control of Crimea" annexed by Russian forces in 2014. Speaking to a group of experts in a Zoom call, Blinken noted that Washington pushing Ukraine's forces to capture back Crimea will mean a "red line" for Russian President Vlimir Putin that could provoke a wider response from Moscow, people familiar with Blinken's comments told Politico. Blinken me remarks as he expected to attend  Munich Security Conference to meet with foreign dignitaries this week where war in Ukraine is on agenda. 

"According to four people with knowledge of Blinken's response, he conveyed that US isn’t actively encouraging Ukraine to retake Crimea, but that decision is Kyiv’s alone," US Secretary of State was quoted as saying.

Blinken, furrmore noted, that Biden ministration’s main focus is to assist Ukraine in Donbass region. Known to Ukrainians as 'Krym', Crimean peninsula lies strategically between  Black Sea and  Sea of Azov. In 2014, Russia's paramilitary forces launched a military intervention in  10,400 square miles peninsula to protect ethnic Russian-speaking population, and Crimean parliament voted to secede from Ukrainian territory. Since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, officials in United States have maintained that Crimea is "Ukraine".

Last week, Pentagon also released an analysis on how soon Ukriane's military could take back Crimea. Defence Department officials, in a classified briefing, said that Ukraine may not have means to coerce more than 30,000 occupying Russian troops out of Crimean territory. Russia also has its only warm water strategic defence base for its Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol with nearly 15,000 troops stationed re. 

Inciting Ukraine to retake Crimea 'extremely dangerous': Russia 

In a stark remark me earlier, Kremlin warned United States against inciting Ukrainian forces into taking Crimea, warning that move will be “extremely dangerous” and would “raise conflict to a new level”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, at a state press briefing, noted that "any attempts to reclaim Crimea would not bode well for European security". 

As war continues in Ukraine unabated, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy h vowed that his military will regain Russian-controlled territory of Crimea that was captured by Russia in 2014. During an dress at World Economic Forum, Zelenskyy said that if West “give us your weapons, we will return what is ours," hinting at taking Crimea. "It is necessary to liberate Crimea. This will be resuscitation of world law and order," Zelenskyy noted on one or occasion while speaking with his ministers over video conference.

During an in-person meeting with Ukrainian leer, Polish President Andrzej Duda also pushed narrative of retaking Crimea, saying that "Crimea was, remains and will be a part of Ukraine, just like Gdansk is a part of Poland, Nice is a part of France, Cologne is a part of Germany, and Rotterdam is a part of Nerlands".