US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to return to Brussels next week for further meetings with NATO and European officials, according to sources familiar with the matter, as the US becomes more and more concerned about the movement of Russian troops near Ukraine, Bloomberg reported.
The meetings will take most of the week, sources said. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will also be in Brussels for a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
A source familiar with the matter said that, Blinken will meet with European officials. Most likely, the situation in Ukraine will be on the agenda, he added, but will not dominate it. The talks, he said, will include several challenges facing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
At the end of March, Blinken traveled to Brussels on his first trip to Europe. The visit was intended to reassure allies that President Donald Trump’s America First era is over and the US is fully committed to NATO. Trump has often criticized the alliance and complained that European countries are not paying enough to defend themselves.
