Russia 'very likely' to invade Ukraine, says top US Intel officer Adam Schiff

Chair of the US House intelligence committee, Adam Schiff, on Sunday warned that “enormous sanctions” might be the strongest deterrent against a "very likely" Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is to mention that tensions between Ukraine and Russia have reignited over the troop deployment near Ukraine’s border. Kyiv and the West fear that this might indicate plans for an invasion, however, the Kremlin has denied that intent.

But, on Sunday, in an interview with CBS News, Adam Schiff said, “I fear that (Russian President) Putin is very likely to invade. I still, frankly, don’t understand the full motivation for why, why now he’s doing this. But he certainly appears intent on it unless we can persuade him otherwise.”

“And I think nothing other than a level of sanctions that Russia has never seen will deter him, and that’s exactly what we need to do with our allies,” Schiff added.

Further, the Democratic Rep. went on to state that an invasion of Ukraine could backfire on Moscow, but drawing more nations into the NATO military alliance. “I also think that a powerful deterrent is the understanding that if they do invade, it is going to bring NATO closer to Russia, not push it farther away,” he said. Schiff said that more NATO assets closer to Russia will have the “opposite impact” of what Putin is trying to achieve. 

US will respond 'decisively' if Russia invades Ukraine

Meanwhile, after Adam Schiff spoke to CBS News, the White House informed that US President Joe Biden had spoken to the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky. Biden has reassured his Ukrainian counterpart that America and its allies and partners will respond “decisively” if Russia further invades Ukraine. According to a readout of a call between the two leaders, Biden also stressed US’ commitment "to the principle of 'nothing about you without you,'" in an apparent reference to the need to include Ukraine in negotiations about its own future. 

The US President has also spoken to Putin, urging his Russian counterpart to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine. During the 50-minute phone call last week, Biden expressed support for diplomacy, starting early next year with bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue, at NATO through the NATO-Russia Council, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He laid out two paths, one focused on democracy and the other focused on deterrence and “significant costs and consequences" should Russia choose to proceed with the further invasion of Ukraine. 

(Image: AP)