Beginning of Russian invasion, says US Secretary of State Blinken; cancels meeting with Lavrov
Washington(PTI): US Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Tuesday cancelled his scheduled meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov later this week in protest against what he said was the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who jointly addressed a news conference with Blinken at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, said that the world must respond with all its economic might to punish Russia for the crimes it has already committed and ahead of the crimes it plans to commit.
Hit Russia's economy now and hit it hard, he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed decrees to recognise Ukraine's regions of Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics as independent , escalating the tension in the region and increasing fears of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. He also ordered Russian troops into eastern Ukraine in what the Kremlin called a "peacekeeping" mission in the Moscow-backed regions.
Responding to questions, Blinken said that further renewed Russian invasion of Ukraine that has now begun means clearly that the idea of having a meeting this week with Foreign Minister Lavrov to pursue diplomacy, now rejected by Russia, does not make sense.
The two leaders were scheduled to meet in Europe on February 24.
But having said that, to the extent there is anything that we can do to avert an even worst-case scenario, an all-out assault on all of Ukraine including its capital, that would inflict horrific costs on the Ukrainian people, we will always pursue that, the secretary of state said, noting that the US and its allies remain open to diplomacy, but Moscow needs to demonstrate that it's serious.
Blinken alleged that Putin has all along planned to invade Ukraine, to control Ukraine and its people, to destroy Ukraine's democracy, which offers a stark contrast to the autocracy that he leads, to reclaim Ukraine as a part of Russia.
That's why this is the greatest threat to security in Europe since World War II. Ukraine is in danger.
President Putin is blatantly and violently breaking the laws and principles that have kept the peace across Europe and around the world for decades. Yesterday at an emergency session of the UN Security Council requested by Ukraine, the United States and many other countries condemned Russia's renewed attack on Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity as a violation of international law and the United Nations Charter, Blinken said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba said that the entire world stands today with Ukraine.
Putin wants much more than a war-torn piece of Ukrainian land and people living there. What stops him is only our unity and resolve, and we can still stop him. Ukraine continues the engagement with the United States, EU, and NATO in diplomatic efforts to ease tensions, he said.
Kuleba called for sustained pressure on Russia.
If that involves regular issuance of executive orders or new sanctions, we will be more than happy to see that, Kuleba added.
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Two West Bengal SIR poll officials enter Odisha village ‘mistakenly’; 72 locals held for assaulting
Balasore: At least 72 people, including 23 women, from Rajnagar village in the district have been arrested under charge of assaulting two poll officials from West Bengal, who are suspected to have mistakenly entered their village on Wednesday.
Odisha Police are learned to have said that poll officers Sumit Hazra and Som Hansda, who are bank employees, had been assigned the duty of supervisiing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise at Baliagaria Block under the Nayagram Police Station limits in West Bengal. On Wednesday, however, the duo mistakenly entered the nearby Rajnagar, located under the Raibania Police Station limits in Balasore district, they added.
According to news agencies, Balasore Additional Superintendent of Police Niranjan Behera has said that the returning officers were detained and assaulted by the villagers on account of communication gap. Explaining the incident further, the officer said that Hazra and Hansda approached an auto rickshaw that was on school duty as they were unable to get any other transportation facility to reach Nayagram. “As the rickshaw driver declined to help, they were waiting for an alternate means of transportation, when a rumour was spread that child lifters were working in the area. This gave rise to suspicion among the villagers and led to the assault of Hazra and Hansda,” Behera is learned to have said.
Further, the Addl SP has said that the villagers are learned to have assaulted and detained two police personnel from Raibania Police Station who rushed to Rajnagar to rescue the returning officers. “Additional forces were sent to the village, even as senior police and administrative officers visited Rajnagar to bring the situation under control,” he reportedly added.
Behera also said, “The injured poll officials, after being rescued, were admitted to the local hospital for treatment. Two cases are registered in this regard, one by the poll officials and another by police. More than 100 people have been questioned.”
The investigation team, after verifying the video footage, has held 72 accused, who will be produced before court. Additional security forces have been mobilized in the Raibania Police Station limits to prevent any untoward situation, officials have said.
