Sec. Blinken hints at what it might take for Russia to get sanctions relief

Relief of international sanctions against Russia may be possible if the right conditions are met at the negotiating table, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press.

"We'll be looking to see what Ukraine is doing and what it wants to do, and if it concludes that it can bring this war to an end, stop the death and destruction, and continue to assert its independence and its sovereignty, and ultimately, that requires the — the lifting of sanctions, of course, we'll have that," he said.

Later in the show, host Chuck Todd asked former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about those comments. "You heard Secretary Blinken essentially say, 'Look, sanctions relief could happen. It all depends on the behavior of Russia.' Can we really live in a world where Putin's let back into the New World Order?" he asked.

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"Well, that's not what I heard him say," Clinton responded. "What I heard him say was that, really, we are going to support the Ukrainians — the people and the government of Ukraine — as they try to figure out what, for them, is the best way forward. And that, I think, is exactly the right position for the United States, Europe and the West, and other countries to take."

A previous version of this post misstated the implication of comments by Secretary Blinken. It has been corrected. We regret the error.