Antony Blinken urges 'immediate Russian de-escalation' in Ukraine call with Sergey Lavrov

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, February 1 has urged Russia to "immediately" de-escalate tensions and withdraw more than 100,000 troops that it has amassed on the frontier with Ukraine. In a telephonic conversation with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, the US Secretary of State emphasised that the prospects of armed invasion of Kyiv “would be met with swift and severe consequences”. Blinken asked Russia to pursue a diplomatic path as he emphasised the United States' willingness to continue a "substantive exchange" with Russia on mutual security concerns, the US State Department informed in a release. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “reiterated the US commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the right of all countries to determine their own foreign policy and alliances,” the readout by the US State Department informed. "The Secretary urged immediate Russian de-escalation and the withdrawal of troops and equipment from Ukraine's borders," it said. "He emphasized that further invasion of Ukraine would be met with swift and severe consequences and urged Russia to pursue a diplomatic path,” it further continued. 

Russia has concentrated an estimated tens of thousands of soldiers along the border with Ukraine, and in recent weeks tensions have escalated at concerns that Moscow is preparing to attack Kyiv. The threat of Moscow’s Ukrainian invasion “is imminent,” US intelligence has found. Russia, meanwhile, has denied that it intends any incursion into its neighbouring country and has instead demanded the security guarantees from NATO to pull back its eastern Europe military expansion. 

Ukraine calls for diplomatic dialogue

Ukraine has also called on Russia to pull back its troops from the former Soviet Union member’s border and instead continue dialogue with the West if it is “serious” amid the soaring fears of Moscow’s invasion. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba took to Twitter and said, if Russian officials are “serious” about de-escalating the situation near the border and “don’t want a new war”, they must continue diplomatic engagement and recall the troops. “If Russian officials are serious when they say they don’t want a new war, Russia must continue diplomatic engagement and pull back military forces it amassed along Ukraine’s borders and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Diplomacy is the only responsible way,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter. 

Image: AP