Secretary of State Antony Blinken leaves Thursday for a trip to Belgium, Poland, Moldova and the Baltic states to coordinate the continued international response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine, and to assure neighboring countries of the U.S. commitment to their security, the State Department said Wednesday.
The secretary’s six-day trip comes amid Russia’s expanding war in Ukraine. The U.S. and other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have pledged to support the government in Kyiv, which has managed so far to hold off Russian forces from taking any of the major cities, but have said they won’t intervene militarily.
In Brussels, Mr. Blinken will meet with his counterparts from NATO member states and convene separately with representatives of the European Union and the Group of Seven industrialized nations.
The secretary said he would “commend them on the unprecedented steps that they’ve taken to support Ukraine and hold Russia to account.” He reiterated President Biden’s message about the U.S. commitment to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which holds that an attack on any ally constitutes an attack on all. Ukraine isn’t a NATO member, but officials are wary of a possible expansion of Russia’s incursion to the alliance’s eastern flank.
On March 5, the secretary is scheduled to visit Poland, where he will meet with Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, among other officials, to discuss additional security and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine. Poland has been a key staging point for international assistance, including arms, and an entry point for refugees fleeing the Russian invasion.
In Chisinau, Moldova, Mr. Blinken will meet with senior politicians to discuss Moldova’s assistance to Ukrainian refugees and U.S. support for Moldova’s security and territorial integrity.
The State Department has warned Americans currently in Moldova to depart the country, citing the conflict in Ukraine and ongoing hostilities between the government and the breakaway Transnistria region. Airlines have canceled flights to and from Moldova, and the government has imposed airspace restrictions due to the conflict in Ukraine.
The final leg of the trip will be to the Baltic states–Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia–NATO members that share a border with Russia.
Mr. Blinken, who spent part of Wednesday morning visiting a Ukrainian church in northeast Washington, D.C., with the country’s ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, reiterated Washington’s support for Ukraine and commitment to penalize Russia for its invasion.
The secretary declined to speculate on Vladimir Putin’s state of mind, but criticized the Russian president’s comments about placing the country’s nuclear forces on heightened alert.
“Provocative rhetoric about nuclear weapons is the height of irresponsibility,” Mr. Blinken said. “It’s dangerous; it adds to the risk of miscalculation; it needs to be avoided.”