Washington. February 20. INTERFAX - Washington considers the continuation of the exercises of the Belarusian and Russian armies on the territory of Belarus to be evidence that Russia intends to invade the territory of Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Tony Blinken on CNN noted that this is another sign of an imminent invasion, which US President Joe Biden has already warned about.
According to Blinken, Washington is ready to do "everything possible to prevent this before it happens."
He added that Washington is also ready to assist Ukraine's defense capability and strengthen NATO.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also said on CBS that "the continuation of the exercises that were supposed to end complements the picture (demonstrating) that Russia is preparing an invasion of Ukraine."
At the same time, he noted that "NATO supports any diplomatic initiatives on Ukraine, and the main goal is to prevent war."
The statements of Blinken and Stoltenberg were made against the background of initiatives that were discussed earlier on Sunday by the Presidents of Russia and France, Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron. In particular, they agreed to do everything possible for a diplomatic solution to the crisis around Ukraine. To this end, in the coming days, according to the Elysee Palace, the Foreign Minister of France and Russia Jean-Yves Le Drian and Sergey Lavrov will meet. In addition, Paris reported that Macron and Putin agreed to resume the work of the "Normandy" format, and also intend to achieve a meeting in the coming hours of the trilateral contact group.
