US WARNS RUSSIA TO PULL BACK FROM UKRAINE OR FACE TOUGHEST SANCTIONS
Written by Sarah Osanyinlusi on December 2, 2021
The US has warned it will hit Russia with the toughest sanctions.
US secretary of state Anthony Blinken on Wednesday warned that Washington will use “high impact economic measures” against Moscow if it decides to invade. This is in response to Russia placing troops on the Ukraine border.
The US diplomat following a meeting with NATO foreign ministers in the Baltic state of Latvia said that “In recent weeks, Russia has stepped up planning for potential military action in Ukraine, including positioning tens of thousands of additional combat forces near the Ukrainian border”.
He said, “We’ve made it clear to the Kremlin that we will respond resolutely, including with a range of high impact economic measures that we have refrained from using in the past,” Blinken also gave an indication of diplomatic activity going on behind the scenes to de-escalate tensions, confirming that Bill Burns, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), had held a rare meeting with President Putin in Moscow last month.
Russia seized the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 but denies aggressive intent in the current standoff, claiming it is responding to threatening behaviour by NATO and Kiev
