WASHINGTON – Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said on Sunday that he was “deeply upset about the violent repression” against Russian protesters and the arrest of thousands of people across the country seeking the release of opposition prisoner Alexei Navalny. release.
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Twitter that the US was behind the protests, claiming a “gross intervention in Russia’s affairs”, but that the protests showed that Russians were fed up with “corruption” and “autocracy”. Blinken told NBC News in his first television. interview since taking office last week.
“The Russian government is making a big mistake in believing that this is about us,” he said. “It’s about them. It’s about the government. It’s about the frustration the Russian people have with corruption, with autocracy, and I think they should look inwards, not outwards.”
Navalny was arrested on January 17 on his return to Moscow after recovering in Germany from what the US and other Western governments were a chemical attack by Vladimir Putin’s government. Navalny’s organization has sent letters to Blinken and the White House asking the United States to sanction Putin’s financial supporters to put Putin under pressure to release Navalny, who is expected to appear in court on Monday.
Blinken said he was reviewing a response to Navalny’s situation, along with other actions by the Russian government, including interference in the 2020 election, the Solar Winds cap and allegations that there are US troops in Afghanistan rewards. Former President Donald Trump has not pressured Putin on these issues. President Joe Biden did this in their first call last week.
Blinken did not want to impose specific sanctions, but said: “The president could not have been clearer in his conversation with President Putin.”
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As for China, Blinken said that although World Health Organization inspectors are on the ground in Wuhan, “Beijing is getting far from the point” when it comes to giving experts access to the sites where the coronavirus was discovered.
He calls China’s lack of transparency a ‘deep-seated problem’ that needs to be addressed.
While millions of people are struggling in a U.S. economy hit hard by the pandemic, Blinken said the Biden government wants to see if the U.S. tariffs that Trump imposes on Chinese imports do more harm to the U.S. than to their target.
U.S. farmers suffered heavy losses after China took revenge by scrutinizing U.S. exports, especially agricultural goods.
He also criticized Chinese actions in Hong Kong, where he said China had acted ‘horribly’ to undermine its commitments to the semi-autonomous island. Under a comprehensive national security law criminalizing secession and undermining, protesters for democracy have been whipped up in waves of arrests.
Blinken said the US should open its doors to those fleeing the violent refugees, such as Britain, which controlled Hong Kong until 1999, said they would do so.
“We see people who have been to Hong Kong again for their own rights, the rights they say are guaranteed to them,” Blinken said. “If they are the victims of repression by Chinese authorities, we must do something to give them a place to live.”
He said the US would gain strength to confront China by resuming global affairs and with international institutions, “because if we withdraw, China will fill in.”
“The challenge facing China is as much about some of our own weaknesses as it is about China’s emerging strength,” Blinken said, making clear a reference to Trump’s aversion to groups such as NATO, the United Nations and the World Health Organization.
Asked how America’s opponents use the attack on the American Capitol as propaganda to undermine American democracy, Blinken acknowledged that the January 6 riot poses an even greater challenge to the banner of democracy and freedom and human rights around us. to wear. world, because people in other countries definitely say to us, ‘Well, why do not you even look at yourselves?’
But, he argued, because the U.S. is facing its problems in front of the whole world, it is sending a powerful message to countries trying to sweep everything under the rug. ‘
Blinken said he believes American leadership in the world should invest in the establishment of the State Department and the diplomats working there. According to Blinken, this means a diverse workforce that ‘looks like the country it represents’.
“We are going to recruit, we are going to retain and we will be held accountable for that,” he said.
He also promised to place more foreign service officers in senior positions. While the number of career diplomats in high positions at the State Department under Trump has dropped to its lowest point, the numbers have been declining for decades.
In 1975, 60 percent of senior positions were filled by non-government officials, compared to 30 percent in 2014, when Blinken started as deputy secretary.
“I am determined to put our career people in positions of responsibility and leadership,” he said.
On Iran, Blinken warned that Tehran could not produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon for months, saying it could only take a few weeks if Iran lifted restrictions on the nuclear deal.
He said the US was prepared to return to the 2015 nuclear deal if Iran did so and then work with US allies and partners on a ‘longer and stronger’ agreement that includes other issues. Pressed on the release of detained Americans, who were not part of previous negotiations, would be an absolute condition for a comprehensive nuclear deal, he did not commit to it.
“Regardless … of any agreement, the Americans should be released. Period,” he said, adding, “We’re going to focus on making sure they get home somehow.”
Asked if North Korea should be recognized as a nuclear power, Blinken said Biden had asked his national security team to review US policy on Pyongyang “across the board” to determine the most effective ways to unleash the Korean Peninsula. According to him, the instruments contain the possibility of further sanctions in cooperation with US allies, as well as unspecified diplomatic incentives.
The Biden government is also reviewing US relations with Saudi Arabia to ensure it is in line with US interests and values, he said. He calls the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 an outrageous act against a journalist and an American resident. ‘
But he did not want to condemn Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who according to the CIA ordered the assassination of Khashoggi. Both Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have refused to acknowledge his role in public and opposed congressional decisions that hampered further arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
Blinken is deeply rooted in the State Department as the son, stepson and cousin of ambassadors. He was deputy secretary in the Obama administration, and his wife, Evan Ryan, now Biden’s secretary of the White House cabinet, served under Obama as assistant secretary of state for education and culture. Blinken has been the prime minister of foreign affairs for decades, working for a young family at home.
“Having two very young children is actually an incredible source of inspiration because it really rests on what I’m trying to do,” he said. “We are all here to try to make life better for our fellow citizens every day. And especially that what we do is try to leave a world that is just a little safer, a little more prosperous, a little healthier for us. children and grandchildren. ‘