Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Wednesday that “it is becoming clearer every day” that the Russian people and even members of the Russian army oppose Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but that they will now “suffer the consequences of the election.” to its leader “.
Why it matters: Unprecedented sanctions imposed by the United States and its Western allies are suffocating the Russian economy with the worst consequences yet to be seen. Russian authorities have suppressed anti-war protests and silenced the last remaining independent media as the Kremlin tries to paint an internal narrative separate from reality.
What are they saying: “My message to the people of Russia – even if they are able to hear it, as the Kremlin is breaking up even more against the truth-bearing media – is my message that we know you do not want to take part in this war.” Blinken told a news conference.
- “The economic costs we have been forced to impose on Russia are not aimed at you. They aim to force your government to stop its actions, to stop its aggression. “
- “And just as millions of us around the world are facing together against Moscow’s aggression, we are also standing with you as you demand that your leaders end this war.
The big picture: One week after Putin’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine, there are growing indications that Russian troops are indiscriminately targeting civilian infrastructure as hopes of a quick victory fail in the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance.
- Kharkov, a Russian-speaking city on the Russian border, has suffered the most brutal civilian shelling of the war in recent days.
- “President Putin, among the many false excuses he made for invading Ukraine, pointed to the need to protect against an imaginary threat to Russian ethnic and Russian-speaking peoples,” Blinken said.
- “How to attack and bomb the population of Kharkov – again one of the largest Russian-speaking cities in Europe – progress towards this supposed goal?
What to watch: Blinken will travel to Belgium, Poland, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia from March 3rd to 8th to meet with NATO allies and Ukraine’s neighbors, who welcomed thousands of refugees fleeing the war.
Go deeper: The latest in the Russian invasion of Ukraine