AP – Russia could invade Ukraine during the current Beijing Winter Olympics so Americans should leave the Eastern European country immediately, United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday.
Blinken did not detail the reasons behind the State Department’s latest security alert that calls on all American citizens to leave Ukraine.
“Simply put, we continue to see very troubling signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the Ukrainian border,” Blinken said in Canberra, Australia. “We’re in a window when an invasion could begin at any time and, to be clear, that includes during the Olympics,” Blinken added.
The Olympic Games are scheduled to end on February 20.
Russia has amassed over 100,000 troops near Ukraine. It said it has no plans to invade but wants the West to keep Ukraine and other former Soviet countries out of NATO.
The threat of war in Ukraine and a strengthened alliance between Russia and China were high on the agenda of a meeting in Canberra yesterday among Blinken and his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia.
