I had hoped that what we would hear in response of our Russian colleague in response to Secretary Blinken’s call for Russia to announce today, without equivocation, that they do not plan to invade Ukraine. But, instead, it was a continuation of the disinformation and the rhetoric that we continue to hear, and we’ve heard before.
The Secretary of State laid out the facts. He laid out the fact that we see on the ground – and that all of you are seeing on the ground – very clearly. And what we all see is escalation, including the decision by the Russian Duma to call for recognition of a separatist movement in total disdain for the Minsk Agreements. And hopefully, as you stated, this will not go any further.
But let me just say clearly for this room, for all of you who called for diplomacy: we will continue to intensify, we will continue to escalate our diplomatic efforts, and we call for Russia to cease confrontation and accept our invitation to dialogue. We will look forward to engaging at the negotiating table to discuss the response that the Russians sent to us just this morning.
And I will end by saying what Secretary Blinken said today: he did not come here to promote war, but he came here to prevent war and to find a way to a peaceful solution.
