"Polemics with opponents within the administration": what could be behind Blinken's words about interaction with Russia

The United States of America is ready to interact with Russia if it changes its line of behavior.

This opinion was expressed by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in an interview with Axios.

“We are ready, if Russia decides to continue its reckless and aggressive actions, we are ready to deal with this, as it has already been.

On the other hand, if she chooses a different course, we are ready to interact, ”said Blinken, quoted by TASS.

According to him, Washington would prefer to have a "more stable relationship" with Moscow.

"There are things that we can do together that will help strengthen the security of our people, the Russian people, the peoples of the whole world, strategic stability, arms control," the head of the State Department explained.

Turning to the topic of the upcoming meeting between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, scheduled for June 16 in Geneva, Anthony Blinken indicated that the head of the White House intends to discuss issues of "joint strengthening of international security, as well as strategic stability and arms control" during the talks.

“The President will meet with President Putin in a week, despite this aggression, these attacks (cyberattacks, for which, according to Washington, Russian hackers are responsible. -

RT

).

This is necessary in order to tell him directly and clearly what he can expect from the United States if aggressive, reckless actions against us continue, ”he stressed.

Blinken stressed the importance of holding a US-Russia summit, but noted that after one personal meeting of the two leaders, it would be impossible to judge the possibility of improving bilateral relations.

Also on russian.rt.com "Discuss the state of relations": Putin and Biden will hold talks in Geneva on June 16

On June 6, Joe Biden, in an article for The Washington Post, said that the United States is not looking for a conflict with Russia, but wants to move to a "stable and predictable relationship."

The day before, Vladimir Putin, during a meeting with the chief editors of international agencies at the SPIEF, pointed out that it was not Russia that “drove” relations between Moscow and Washington into their current state: “We did not take a single step first in what was detrimental to Russian-American relations ".

Speaking about the upcoming meeting with his American counterpart, he noted that he did not expect any breakthrough in relations, but expressed hope for a constructive character of the upcoming meeting.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also stated that Moscow does not create illusions about the outcome of the upcoming meeting of the two leaders.

“We do not create illusions and do not try to create the impression that there will be some breakthroughs, some historical, fateful decisions.

But the very fact of a conversation between the two leading nuclear powers at the level of top officials is, of course, important, it must be supported in every possible way, ”he said.

"The United States associates any problems with Russia and China"

Anthony Blinken's words are part of Washington's numerous statements from the category of information attacks on the Russian Federation, said Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics at Moscow State Pedagogical University.

“In fact, it is directed both towards the intra-American voter and towards the European allies and, to a lesser extent, towards Russia.

I think that this statement to our country in fact does not have, "said the interlocutor of RT.

He recalled that Biden's decision to meet with Putin caused a negative reaction from members of the Republican Party, because when Donald Trump was President of the United States, the Democrats in every way prevented him from building contacts with the Russian leader.

“In this case, Blinken is actually conducting polemics with opponents of the administration within the United States and is giving signals to European allies, who also find themselves in a very uncomfortable position, since on the one hand, the United States is making them quite tough to pursue an anti-Russian policy, and on the other, the US president is meeting with a colleague from RF ", - said the expert.

According to the director of the Franklin Roosevelt Foundation for the Study of the United States at Moscow State University, Yuri Rogulyov, Washington should stop considering all events in the world as "aggression" by Russia.

In his opinion, if the American political leadership continues to build relations in this way, then nothing good will come of the upcoming meeting of the two leaders.

“The US itself arranged this whole situation with both sanctions and accusations ... And in general, now any problems the US faces, they are trying to connect either with China or with Russia.

Such myths, far from reality, they, of course, do not contribute to the cause.

Of course, this is a situation that makes it very difficult for the Americans themselves.

Because they get a split, "- explained the interlocutor of RT.