Blinken: the U.S. is not actively encouraging Ukraine to return Crimea, but it’s up to Kiev to decide
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said during a video conference call with a group of experts that the U.S. is not actively encouraging Ukraine to return Crimea, but the decision is up to Kiev alone, Politico newspaper reported, citing those familiar with Blinken’s statement.
The publication notes that during the conversation, someone asked Blinken if the U.S. was ready to help Ukraine realize the goal of returning Crimea. According to the publication, Blinken said Ukraine’s attempt to retake Crimea would be a “red line” for Russian President Vladimir Putin, which could lead to a larger response from Moscow.
“According to four people familiar with Blinken’s response, he said the U.S. is not actively encouraging Ukraine to take back Crimea, but the decision is up to Kiev alone. The administration’s main focus is on helping Ukraine move to where the fighting is going, mostly in the east… Two of these people said Blinken gave the impression that the U.S. doesn’t think efforts to take back Crimea at this point are a wise move. They stressed that he did not say those words directly,” the report said.
According to two other people, the newspaper writes, the secretary of state said that the decision of trying to take Crimea by force was made solely by Ukrainians, not by the United States. The newspaper adds that this made it clear to sources that Blinken was more open “to a potential Ukrainian game for Crimea. One of the paper’s interlocutors said that the overall message is that there is “a lot of uncertainty” about how things will go forward, with “real questions” about each side’s ability to “make big gains.”