Blinken: Russia wants to divide Ukrainian society

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused Russia of trying to divide Ukrainian society, as fears mount of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

An estimated 100,000 Russian troops have been deployed near Ukraine’s borders and Mr Blinken, visiting Kyiv, said Russia could launch an attack at very short notice.

Mr Blinken also promised “relentless” diplomacy to stop Russian aggression.

Russia has repeatedly denied planning to invade its neighbour.

At a news conference with the Ukrainian foreign minister, Mr Blinken accused Russia of trying to weaken Ukraine’s diplomatic institutions and to divide Ukrainian society, “using everything from election interference to disinformation to cyber attacks”.

He also pledged “relentless diplomatic efforts to prevent renewed aggression and to promote dialogue and peace”, and repeated a warning of tough sanctions against Russia in the event of an invasion.

Mr Blinken will meet his Russian counterpart in Geneva on Friday, after talks with European allies in Berlin.

A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. So on a day when the White House warned that a Russian attack on Ukraine could come “at any point”, American Secretary of State Antony Blinken flew almost 8,000km to appear in front of cameras with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and reiterate the close ties between the two nations.

He cautioned Russian President Vladimir Putin that there would be severe consequences if he opted for military action and promised continued defensive and financial support for the Ukrainian government.

Given evidence of a Russian disinformation campaign to convince Ukrainians that the US is abandoning the Eastern European nation – drawing comparisons to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan – such a show of support was particularly welcomed by senior Ukrainian officials.

Meanwhile, on the streets of Kyiv, everyday life is continuing as normal. Pedestrians waved and took photographs of Mr Blinken’s motorcade as it passed along ice-encrusted streets. There is no sense of panic or undue concern even amid headlines of Russian troops amassing along the nation’s borders.

Time may tell whether this is mass denial or a sense of steely resolve for the challenges that lie ahead.

Russia has made a raft of demands to Western governments, including that Ukraine should never join Nato and that the defensive alliance’s military activities should be limited in member states including Poland. Talks between the West and Russia last week failed to reach a breakthrough, with some of Moscow’s demands rejected as non-starters.

On Wednesday, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the US could not force Moscow to move its troops away from the Ukrainian border.

“They are on our territory and we won’t be making any changes to their movement because of external pressure,” he said.

Instead, he urged Washington to stop its military support for Ukraine, which he said posed a direct threat to Russian security.

Although Russia says it has no plans for an invasion, tensions remain high near Ukraine’s borders – with Russian troops deployed in neighbouring Belarus for what have been termed joint military exercises.

Mr Lavrov also rejected US claims that Russia was preparing a pretext for a military operation in Ukraine as “total disinformation”.

Mr Blinken’s visit to Kyiv on Wednesday was described as a bid to “reinforce the United States’ commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”, before talks in Berlin on Thursday with German, French and British counterparts.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who visited Moscow on Tuesday, has warned that any further military escalation “would carry a high price for the Russian regime – economic, political and strategic”.

Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has urged Western governments to impose immediate sanctions on Moscow.

Speaking to the BBC’s HardTalk programme, he warned that a Russian invasion of the country could lead to bloodshed and a refugee crises for Europe.

A consignment of light anti-tank missiles arrived in Kyiv from the UK on Tuesday as British ministers urged Moscow to reflect on the brink of potential conflict in which thousands could die.

In an essay published this week, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace accused Russia of using Nato as a “strawman” to justify an invasion of Ukraine, accusing President Vladimir Putin of being motivated by “ethnonationalism”.