State Department official said: ‘More and more converging’ with allies on costs to Russia if they invade Ukraine
“I think we’re getting more and more convergence every day,” the official said Saturday when asked if there was agreement on the first cost that the US and its allies would inflict on Russia if they become more aggressive towards Ukraine or not.
The official added that “it’s clear that technical work needs to be done,” but on a political level, “there’s a huge amount of convergence on what will unfortunately be needed if Russia makes a bad choice.” there.”
The types of costs the US and its European allies are discussing on Russia are “designed to be implemented very, very quickly”, the official said, without detailing what those measures would look like. “That’s part of the reason why we’ve chosen the measures we’re working on.”
The official said not only the G7 but “a large number of democracies” would join the US in costing.
“I made that clear to President Putin,” Biden said. “If he moves to Ukraine, the economic consequences for his economy will be devastating. Devastating, number one. Second, we will find that we will have to send more American troops and NATO on the Eastern Ridge, (Bucharest) 9, all the NATO nations we have a sacred obligation to defend against any Russian attack. And third, the impact of all these things. That way toward Russia and his attitude, the rest of the world, his view of Russia will change dramatically. He will pay a terrible price.”
Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried will have the opportunity to hear from the Ukrainian people, including how they view the Minsk agreements, and how they will see the United States engaged on that front, the official said. said.
In Moscow, Donfried will discuss Minsk and “listen to the Russians, for their sake in this European security cooperation”, the official said. But “there’s nothing about them without them,” so she will continue to engage in direct dialogue with allies in Brussels. The dialogue could be bigger than NATO; it could also include OSCE countries, the official said.
“What we’re going to do next week is start to better understand where this can go, but until we talk to our European allies and partners, I don’t think there will be any negotiations,” the official said.
CNN’s Donald Judd contributed to this report.
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