Blinken says US not seeking regime change in Russia

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on weekday aforementioned the U.S. wasn’t seeking "regime change" in Moscow.

"In any event, it’s not up to us," he told the BBC from Brussels. "The Russian individuals got to decide their leadership. they have to make your mind up whether or not the leaders that are there are literally advancing and representing their needs, their interests, their will. It’s completely not up to us." Blinken said he would raise the Russian people, if he could, however the "war of aggression, unprovoked, unwarranted on Ukraine" helps them in their everyday lives. "How is it causation a child to school? however is it obtaining you a job? however is it cleansing the air? however is it addressing the items you care about?" he questioned. On the contrary, he told the BBC, the Russian individuals are "tragically" bearing the burden of President Vladimir Putin’s war owing to the large sanctions obligatory on the country by the U.S. and its allies. The secretary conjointly praised the "resilience" of the Ukrainian people, saying, "If it' the intention of national capital to do somehow to topple the government and install its own puppet regime, forty five million Ukrainians are reaching to reject that a way or the other." Blinken arrived in national capital on weekday for conferences with NATO allies. He are going to be in Europe for a week, traveling next to Poland, Moldova, Latvia, Republic of Lithuania and Estonia. His dismissal of regime modification came each day once U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was heavily criticized for suggesting somebody in Russia ought to assassinate Putin. Blinken didn’t mention Graham' tweet in his comments. The White House refuted Graham’s remarks as well. "That isn't the position of the us government and definitely not an announcement you’d hear return from the mouth of anybody operating during this administration," White House press secretary Jen Psaki aforementioned Friday. On Friday, Graham backtracked slightly, career for Putin’s arrest and language the Russian leader ought to be declared a war criminal.