White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said Thursday that the US has evidence that Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has been “a strategic disaster” for Russia. He also added that Moscow will face more sanctions.
“Putin himself has said that these sanctions have imposed unprecedented costs on the Russian economy, and our role is to continue strengthening Ukraine on the battlefield,” the US official said in the White House newsroom.
“We have done everything we can to be transparent. Even before Putin's invasion, we worked to ensure that we provided information that gave an idea of what we knew Russia was going to do. Making it clear that we knew what their intentions were had the impact of putting them at a disadvantage,” he said. “I think we have seen, in general, that the invasion has been a strategic mistake, it is weakening Russia”
On the other hand, he said that they have “seen reports that morale among the Russian military is low. And I think that would come as no surprise to anyone who saw what the Russian army is enduring here. You have recruits. You have people who have been hired to fight this incredibly tiring battle. So, I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that morale is low.”
Bedingfield also clarified that there are no current plans for direct talks between Joe Biden and Putin, and reiterated that the US wants to see a “tangible de-escalation of the war by Russia” before considering any kind of direct rapprochement with the Kremlin leader.
“Not currently. We have made it very clear that any resumption of diplomacy at that level would require a significant demonstration by the Russians of a serious reduction and we haven't seen that,” Bedingfield told a CNN journalist.
The last time Biden and Putin spoke on the phone was on February 12, about two weeks before Russia began its invasion.
In the coming days, the US will add 120 entities from Russia and Belarus to its sanctions list: “The Commerce Department will also take further steps to degrade Russia's defense, aerospace and maritime sectors by adding 120 entities in Russia and Belarus to the Entity List, increasing the number of Russian parties and Belarusians added to the list more than 200 since the invasion began”.
Bedingfield added that being on the list means that these entities “can no longer obtain state-of-the-art technology from the US without a license, which in most cases, if not all, will be denied.”
“The power of these restrictions will worsen over time as Russia uses the remaining reserves. For example, spare parts for certain aircraft and tanks. We will continue to impose unprecedented costs to strengthen Ukraine's hand and turn Putin's choice of word into a strategic flaw.”
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