Secretary of State Antony Blinken had harsh words for Moscow and suggested sanctions against Russia were on the horizon in an interview with NBC News that aired on Monday. While the US and Russia recently agreed to extend New START, the vital nuclear arms treaty, the Biden administration is otherwise taking a hostile stance towards Moscow.
Blinken condemned the Russian government’s response to recent protests and the jailing of Alexei Navalny, the opposition figure who the US alleges was poisoned by Moscow. Blinken was asked if the Biden administration was planning sanctions on Russia in response to what happened to Navalny. “Actually, we are reviewing a series of Russian actions that are deeply, deeply, disturbing,” he said.
Those actions that the Biden administration is “reviewing” include completely unsubstantiated claims, like the allegation that Russia paid bounties to the Taliban to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan. The bounty allegation first surfaced back in June 2020, when a thinly-sourced story from The New York Times made the claim.
Since the Times report, just about every US military leader said the Russian bounty story was uncorroborated. Regardless of the facts, the story was used to add an amendment to the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act that blocks funds for troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, and the Biden administration seems poised to take action against Russia for it.
Another alleged Russian action the Biden administration is reviewing is the hack of the software firm SolarWinds that affected several US government agencies. In January, US intelligence agencies said that Russia was “likely” behind the hack but offered no evidence to substantiate the claim. US politicians and media outlets blamed Russia for the hack almost immediately after it was discovered despite a lack of evidence.
Another claim against Russia the Biden administration wants to take action over is alleged election interference. One of the main allegations underpinning the election interference narrative is that Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and provided WikiLeaks with emails that were published in 2016.
The allegation that Russia hacked the DNC came from the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. In 2020, declassified testimony revealed that CrowdStrike President Shawn Henry told the House Intelligence Committee that his firm had no “concrete evidence” that alleged Russian hackers stole data from the DNC servers.
Even though many of the allegations against Russia are baseless, they were important enough for President Biden to bring up with Russian President Vladimir Putin in their first phone call.
Posturing. Embarrassing. Who is the audience? Who is supposed to be scared of US actions?
Biden must know that his support is razor thin, and any aggressive action on his part will blow away the support that he was in many cases reluctantly given. Hope he does not think he has a robust mandate for “democracy” enforcement around the globe.
Navalny’s entire support base cannot fill one football stadium. Especially now after the “great reveal”, a supposedly luxurious palace belonging to Putin, that actually belongs to tycoon, who planned a hotel there. The concrete shell had multiple owners and for years after Crimean annexation by Russia was not worked on.
To make Navalny’s embarrassment more acute — the shield under the two headed eagle is not Russian but belongs to Montenegro.
Whoever did this grand mock up of a palace, should have known Russian state symbols.
Unless it was commissioned by the forever President of Montenegro known for his once lucrative career in smuggling. Who knows!
Navalny’s right hand man seeking 20 million from MI6 man on You tube.
Britain doesn’t have 20 million pounds, euros or dollars. He can get a free tour of historic castles however.
Is Blinken a slimmed down version of Pompeo or what? Or maybe Hillary with a penis?
Mike Pompous with manners…
They are all Bill Clinton.
Sanctions have only strenghtened Russia not weakened it .
Russia will leave Crimea when the US pulls out of Texas.
Must keep up pretense of fictional enemy
It is clear that Russia cannot escape the wrath of the USA. Why? Because it sells its oil in currencies other than the US dollar. This is considered an existential threat to USA. For some reason the US never say it out loud. But the pattern is clear: Libya, Iran, Venezuela. The real proof would be if there was a coup in Saudi Arabia and the Saudis sold their oil to Europe in £ and to China in Renminbi.
€ not £
Blinken should review sanctions against government officials who lobbied the agencies they now run.