— If I were Mr PrigozhinI will remain very concerned. NATO has an open door policy, Russia has an open window policy said Blinken, alluding to a string of suspicious deaths among Russia’s elite.
As he stated in a conversation during a security conference in Aspen, Colorado, while it is not known what the further impact of the Wagner Group uprising in June would be, the appearance of mercenaries in Belarus is “bad for Belarus, because wherever Wagner appears, exploitation, death follow it and destruction.”
Blinken is another top US administration official who has spoken of Vladimir Putin’s possible vendetta against Prigozhin in recent days. Previously president Joe Biden says in Helsinki that if he were the owner of the Wagner Group, he would be “careful about what he eats” and “watch his menu”. CIA chief Bill Burns said he would advise Prigozhin not to fire the person who tested his food.
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Wheat deal. Blinken: The US is looking for alternatives
Regarding Russia’s exit from Black Sea Grain InitiativeBlinken said the US was working with partners to explore alternative options, but acknowledged it would be impossible to replace the amount of goods exported under the initiative.
“This is because for operators and insurance companies, given the threats – and more than threats, the actions Russia has taken in recent days – it will be very difficult to operate in these conditions. So we looked for alternatives. We are looking at options, but I don’t think so, so that we can replace these volumes,” the US Secretary of State said.
Referring to a call by the chairman of the congressional foreign affairs committee, Republican Michael McFaul, to nominate a special envoy for the peace talks in Ukraine, Blinken said that Russia had shown no intention of engaging in such talks. He noted that Putin still believes that he can wait for the West and that he must dispel these illusions.
“If there is a change in President Putin’s stance, there will probably be some opening up. At the moment we don’t see it,” the chief US diplomat said.
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