As Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, prepares to meet Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, in Geneva today, President Biden strengthened his warning to Russia about a potential attack on Ukraine. Any Russian troop movement into Ukraine would be taken as an invasion, he said, and he reiterated the threat of sanctions.
Biden’s remarks came a day after he prompted alarm by suggesting that a “minor incursion” by Russia into Ukraine could mean “we end up having a fight” with European allies about the appropriate response. Neither the U.S. nor Europe has detailed the exact steps that would be taken if the crisis were to escalate.
Though European and NATO officials were quick to play down questions of division, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, surprised and irritated many colleagues with an address to the E.U. Parliament in which he called on Europeans to come up with their own proposal on common security.
Quotable: A new incursion in Ukraine would be met by a “severe and coordinated economic response,” Biden said.
New York Times