Sec. Blinken: We Believe Putin Has ‘Made the Decision’ to Invade Ukraine, But We’ll Still Exercise Diplomacy

‘President Biden is prepared to engage President Putin at any time, in any format, if that can help prevent a war’

EXCERPT:

BLINKEN: "It — as we have described it, everything leading up to the actual invasion appears to be taking place. All of these false flag operations, all of these provocations to create justifications, all of that is already in train. But you heard President Biden say this the other night. We believe President Putin has made the decision, but until the tanks are actually rolling and the planes are flying, we will use every opportunity and every minute we have to see if diplomacy can still dissuade President Putin from carrying this forward. President Biden is prepared to engage President Putin at any time, in any format, if that can help prevent a war. I reached out to my Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Lavrov, to urge that we meet next week in Europe. The plan is still to do that, unless Russia invades in the meantime."

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