Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Russia and Beijing trip
WASHINGTON, D.C. (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Margaret Brennan on Sunday's episode of Face the Nation about who in the Biden administration has been in touch with Russian leadership, what would happen if Putin's government fell in Russia, and whether Wagner fighters will be returning to the fight in Ukraine.
"We always prepare for every contingency in terms of what happens in Russia. It's an internal matter for the Russians to figure out. Of course, when we're dealing with a major power, and especially a major power that has nuclear weapons, that's something that's of concern, something we're very focused on. We haven't seen any change in Russia's nuclear posture. There hasn't been any change in ours, but it's something we're going to watch very, very carefully," Blinken spoke.
During the interview, Blinken spoke with Brennan on Yevgeny Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin's former confidant and head of the Wagner Paramilitary Group, undermining Russian leadership and who is in charge of Russia's military right now.
"Prigozhin himself saying that Ukraine and NATO did not pose a threat to Russia, which is, you know, been part of Putin's narrative. These create more cracks in the Russian facade. And those cracks are already profound. Economically, militarily, it's standing in the world, all of those things have been dramatically diminished by Putin's aggression against Ukraine. He's managed to bring Europe together, he's managed to bring NATO together, he's managed to get Europe to move off of Russian energy, he's managed to alienate Ukrainians and unite Ukraine at the same time. So across the board, this has been a strategic failure. Now, you introduce into that, profound internal divisions. And there are lots of questions he's going to have to answer in the weeks ahead," Blinken discussed.
Finally, Blinken touched on his trip to Beijing and President Biden's recent comments on Xi Jinping. The pair also discussed Chinese companies conducting business with the Wagner group.
"The main purpose was to bring some greater stability to the relationship. We have an obligation, and I think China has an obligation to manage that relationship responsibly, to make sure that the profound differences we have don't veer into conflict. But one of the things that I said to Chinese counterparts during this trip was that we are going to continue to do things, and say things that you don't like, just as you're no doubt going to continue to do and say things that we don't like," Blinken remarked.
