TURN FOR THE WORSE

Blinken Calls Off Meeting With Russian Foreign Minister Over Invasion’s ‘Beginning’

“Now that we see the invasion is beginning and Russia has made clear its wholesale rejection of diplomacy, it does not make sense to go forward with that meeting at this time.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that he had scrapped a planned meeting with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as Russia continues to forge ahead with a series of invasive moves towards Ukraine. The secretary and Lavrov had been set to meet in Geneva on Thursday. “Now that we see the invasion is beginning and Russia has made clear its wholesale rejection of diplomacy, it does not make sense to go forward with that meeting at this time,” Blinken said. “I consulted with our allies and partners—all agree.” He said that the U.S. remained “committed to diplomacy,” as long as Russia could prove it was serious about de-escalating the crisis along the Ukrainian border, where 150,000 Russian troops have amassed. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also said Tuesday that a scheduled meeting between himself and Lavrov on Friday was being called off. The announcements came less than a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would deploy “peacekeeping” forces to two Russian-recognized separatist regions in Ukraine.