"No Country Should Offer Putin Platform To Promote His War": U.S. Urges Against 'Business As Usual' With Russia

The United States on Tuesday urged against ‘business as usual’ with Russia as Vladimir Putin arrived in Kazakhstan for regional security and defence talks, as well as a series of bilateral meetings, including with Chinese and Turkish leaders, TURAN’s Washington correspondent reports.

“No country should offer Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression against Ukraine,” State Department’s Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told a daily briefing.

“It cannot be business as usual with Russia, and no country should turn a blind eye to the clear violations of international law that Russia has committed,” he added.  

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a forum established by China and Russia in 2001 as a guardian of security in the Eurasia region, will meet for their summit on July 3-4 in Astana.

Patel highlighted efforts that have been undertaken by G7 in addressing what they are seeing as a reconstitution of Russia’s defense industrial base.

“We believe that the PRC’s reconstitution is deeply problematic and we’re going to continue to monitor this and take appropriate actions independently as well as through multilateral institutions as well. And you heard me talk about this a little bit before, but this kind of reconstitution, again, is not just a threat to Ukraine; it’s a threat to European security as well,” he said.

As for Turkiye, Patel told TURAN’s correspondent that the U.S. continues to ask all of its partners that they should “support efforts to realize an enduring and just peace for Ukraine, and for those that have influence or a relationship with Russia, to urge them to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s sovereign territory.”

Separately, Washington also pushes back against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s immediate ceasefire calls during his trip in Ukraine.

“We and the NATO Alliance have been clear that there really is only one solution here, and that is Russia simply leaving Ukrainian territory,” Patel said.

As for Orban’s talks in Kyiv, “I will let his office speak specifically about his travels.  But this, in our point of view, is an example of our European allies increasing their support for Ukraine because there is a collective recognition that Ukraine’s fight to defend its people and its independence is part of a larger fight for democracy and international stability,” Patel told TURAN’s correspondent.