US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken held telephone talks with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves de Drian and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, during which senior diplomats discussed the situation on the eastern border of Ukraine and Russia. On Friday, April 9, Reuters reported with reference to the statement of the spokesman for the US State Department Ned Price.
Diplomats believe that Russian military movements near Ukraine’s eastern border are heightening fears of a Moscow invasion of Ukrainian territory.
Anthony Blinken also held talks with German Foreign Ministry spokesman Heiko Maas, during which diplomats raised the issue of the need to support Ukraine against “unilateral Russian provocations”, as well as the cessation of “military power” and “inflammatory rhetoric” on the part of the Russian authorities.
In turn, the dialogue between the American and French representatives concerned a related issue – the need to stop “dangerous and irresponsible Russian rhetoric, the buildup of military power in Crimea and along the borders of Ukraine.”
Earlier, on April 9, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said that the Ukrainian media are only whipping up hysteria about the mythical Russian threat and Moscow’s plans to “attack Ukraine.” Zakharova pointed out that the instigators of this information wave are, first of all, the western curators of Kiev.
On April 8, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a telephone conversation, during which the leaders of the two countries discussed the situation in Donbass.