Russia is threatening American journalists as the country continues its invasion of Ukraine, according to reports.
A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman told American correspondents recently that “Russian journalists in the United States had faced problems with visa renewals, harassment by U.S. intelligence agencies and blocked bank accounts.”
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the administration is still issuing visas to qualified Russian journalists but the Treasury has slapped sanctions on media outlets owned or linked to the Russian government.
“Threatening professional journalists for simply trying to do their jobs and seeking to seal off Russia’s population from any foreign information illustrates the flimsiness and the fragility of the Russian government’s narrative,” Price said.
This comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last month that he is backing down from his country’s objection to Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
“As far as expansion goes, including new members Finland and Sweden, Russia has no problems with these states — none. And so in this sense there is no immediate threat to Russia from an expansion to include these countries,” Putin said.
However, he claimed that the NATO expansion was being used by the US in an “aggressive” way to aggravate an already difficult global security situation and that Russia would respond if the alliance moves weapons or troops forward.
“The expansion of military infrastructure into this territory would certainly provoke our response. What that (response) will be – we will see what threats are created for us,” the Russian president said. “Problems are being created for no reason at all. We shall react accordingly.”
Despite Putin’s decision, Russian general staff has reportedly sent out orders to begin the mobilization of its military reinforcements.
“Reserve battalions can be formed from officers, contractors not yet participating in the war in Ukraine, as well as reservists who were persuaded to sign a short-term contract,” reported Conflict Intelligence Team founder Ruslan Leviev.
The mobilization of these reserve groups is a rotation designed to replace ineffective units already on the ground in Ukraine’s contested eastern border regions with Russia, without declaring an infusion of forces.
It’s anybody’s guess what will happen at this point. As for Putin, it may turn out the most he gets out of this horrific invasion is a larger and more powerful NATO.
