Blinken says he’s ‘convinced’ Putin will try to topple Ukrainian government

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview on Thursday that he is “convinced” Russian President Vladimir Putin will try to overthrow the Ukrainian government, remarks that come less than 24 hours after Russia invaded Ukraine.

During an interview on ABC’s “World News Tonight,” anchor David Muir asked Blinken if he was convinced that Putin was going to overthrow the Ukrainian government.

“I’m convinced he’s going to try to do that,” Blinken answered.

Muir also asked Blinken if he believed it might be a possibility that American troops could be involved if Russian troops moved into North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries, beyond Ukraine.

“Is it a possibility that Putin goes beyond Ukraine? Sure, it’s a possibility, but there’s something very powerful standing in the way of that. That’s something we call Article 5 of NATO. That means an attack on one member of NATO is an attack on all members of NATO,” Blinken answered. “The President’s been very clear that we will defend every inch of NATO territory. I think that’s the most powerful deterrent against President Putin going beyond Ukraine.”

“You know the President has said all along U.S. troops will not fight in Ukraine against the Russians, but again, this hypothetical — if he goes beyond Ukraine and into NATO — given what you just cited, that means all bets are off the table here,” Muir pressed the secretary of state.

Blinken answered that the U.S. was committed to supporting its NATO allies, saying if the situation required American assistance, “We’ll do it.”

“We’re committed to defending our NATO allies; and if it comes to that, we’ll do it. But right now, our focus is on Ukraine, our focus is on trying to prevent President Putin from going even further, but it looks like he’s going for everything he can get,” Blinken said. 

“And so, we’re doing what we said we would do all along. We’re imposing massive costs. We’re doing it with allies and partners. We’re doing it together. We’re doing it swiftly. And you’ve seen that already today,” he added.

Since Putin ordered a military operation in Ukraine, the U.S. and its allies have announced new waves of sanctions against Russia, with Biden on Thursday saying U.S. sanctions would target Russian banks and impose export controls restricting Russian imports of sensitive U.S. technology.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in a statement on Thursday that 137 people had already died since Russia launched its invasion, and 316 others were injured.