US Secretary of State Blinken Heads to Eastern Europe

U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken left Thursday for eastern Europe to hold meetings with NATO allies and other European leaders in an effort to find a diplomatic solution to the situation in Ukraine.

In a release, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken will first travel to Brussels for a NATO Foreign Ministerial, as well as meet with his European Union counterparts for the G-7 Ministerial Meeting.

Blinken travels to Poland on Saturday for meetings with Polish leaders, including Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, “to discuss further security assistance in the face of Russia’s continued aggression.”

Price said the secretary of state also will thank Poland for generously welcoming hundreds of thousands of displaced persons from Ukraine and discuss how the United States can augment humanitarian assistance efforts for those fleeing Putin’s war.

Later Saturday, Blinken is scheduled to travel to Moldova to meet with President Maia Sandu, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita, and Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu to discuss Moldova’s efforts to receive and assist refugees, and underscore U.S. support for that effort.

From March 6 through March 8, Blinken travels to Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to meet with leaders in those countries to discuss joint efforts to support Ukraine, strengthen NATO’s deterrence and defense, and promote democracy and human rights.

At a news briefing Wednesday, Blinken said intensive diplomacy with allies and partners continues with the aim of ending the crisis in Ukraine.

He said, “If there are diplomatic steps that we can take that the Ukrainian government believes would be helpful, we’re prepared to take them — even as we continue to support Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.”

Russia-Ukraine Crisis High on Agenda as Harris Heads to Munich

WASHINGTON — 

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris travels Thursday to Munich, where officials say she will focus on consulting with allies about the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

While in Germany, where Harris will lead the U.S. delegation at the Munich Security Conference, she is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and the leaders of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Harris is also due to give an address Saturday that administration officials said would highlight the level of unity among Western countries and NATO members on diplomatic, military and economic fronts.

“The vice president will underscore how that unity is a source of strength that will allow us to respond swiftly and severely to any further Russian aggression,” a senior administration official told reporters in a briefing Wednesday. “Her speech will also focus on reassuring our allies and partners of our commitments and how we’re committed to bolstering NATO and reinforcing our allies in the face of Russian aggression. And she’ll talk about how a further invasion of Ukraine, we believe, will leave Russia weaker and not stronger.”

Officials said the overall objective of the trip is making sure Western allies are “fully aligned” and send a clear message to Russia about the path forward.

“Our preference is diplomacy and deterrence, but if Russia chooses aggression, we are ready,” an administration official said.

Russia has denied it has plans to invade Ukraine, and in recent days has announced several rounds of troop withdrawals from areas along its border with Ukraine.

The United States and NATO have said there is no evidence of any withdrawals, and a senior U.S. administration official told reporters Wednesday that Russia has instead been adding troops to the border area.

China Looms Large as Blinken Heads to Australia, Fiji

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Australia next week for QUAD ministerial meetings to advance cooperation on issues including maritime security and cybersecurity, the State Department announced Friday.

The Quad refers to a security dialogue involving Australia, India, Japan and the United States.

Blinken’s visit to Australia February 9-12 would be his first trip to the country after an enhanced trilateral security partnership known as AUKUS (Australia, U.K., and the U.S.) was signed last September. The agreement includes a deal to build nuclear-propelled submarines for Australia—not a G-7 member—as part of enhanced deterrence against China’s military expansion across the Indo-Pacific region.

“Secretary Blinken will meet with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Hayashi Yoshimasa, Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and other senior officials to discuss a range of bilateral and global priorities,” said the State Department in a statement released Friday.

China has expressed wariness over the QUAD and AUKUS. A spokesperson from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian, said any regional cooperation framework “should not target any third party” when U.S. President Joe Biden hosted a QUAD leaders’ summit last September.

The top U.S. diplomat’s weeklong trip also includes Fiji and Honolulu.

In Fiji, Blinken will meet with Pacific Island leaders to discuss the climate crisis and ways to further “shared commitment to democracy, regional solidarity, and prosperity in the Pacific.” This will be the first visit by a U.S. secretary of state to Fiji since1985.

Addressing the threat from North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs is high on the agenda, as Blinken hosts Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi and Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong for a U.S.-Japan-Republic of Korea Trilateral Ministerial Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii on February 12.

In January, North Korea conducted several launches, firing ballistic missiles.