US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he asked Russia to prove its intentions by withdrawing troops deployed on Ukraine’s borders.
This came after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva, Switzerland.
The two sides sought to turn the temperature down in a heated standoff over Ukraine, although they said there was no imminent breakthrough in the crisis that has raised fears of a possible Russian invasion.
We have heard Russian officials say that they do not intend to invade Ukraine. Indeed, Mr. Lavrov repeated that to me today,” Blinken told reporters after the meeting.
“If Russia wants to start convincing the world that it has no aggressive intent toward Ukraine, a very good place to start would be with de-escalation, and re-removal of those forces on Ukraine’s borders.”
He also said that US President Joe Biden is willing to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin if they can make progress on Ukraine.
«President Biden has met here in Geneva with President Putin, and has spoken to him by phone or via video on a number of occasions, and if we conclude (and) the Russians conclude that the best way to resolve things is through another conversation between them, we are certainly prepared to do that,» he told reporters. .
With an estimated 100,000 Russian troops massed near Ukraine, many fear Moscow is preparing for an invasion, although Russia denies this.
The United States and its allies are striving to present a united front to prevent this or orchestrate a tough response if they are unable to do so.
«We didn’t expect any major breakthroughs today, but I think we are now on a clearer path to understanding each other’s positions,» Blinken said.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva.
Source: PA
Blinken said Lavrov reiterated Russia’s insistence that there were no plans to invade Ukraine, but stressed that the United States and its allies were not convinced.
“We look at what is visible to all,” he said, “and it is actions and deeds, not words, that make the difference.”
Meanwhile, Lavrov described the talks as «constructive and useful» and said the United States had agreed to provide written responses to Russia’s demands on Ukraine and NATO next week. This can at least delay any impending aggression by a few days.
But Lavrov refused to describe this pledge.
«I can’t say if we are on the right track or not,» he told reporters. «We will understand this when we receive a written response from the United States to all of our proposals.»
Moscow demanded that NATO pledge not to allow Ukraine – the former Soviet republic – to join. It also wants the Allies to withdraw troops and military equipment from parts of Eastern Europe.
The United States and its NATO allies flatly rejected these demands and said that Russian President Vladimir Putin knows they are no novices. They have said they are open to less exciting moves.
Blinken said the US would be open to a meeting between Putin and US President Joe Biden, if it would be «instrumental and productive.»
Fast and intense response
Washington and its allies have repeatedly promised «serious» consequences such as tough economic sanctions – not military action – against Russia if the invasion continues.
Blinken repeated this warning before the talks.
He said the United States and its allies were committed to diplomacy, but also «if this proves impossible, and Russia decides to continue aggression against Ukraine, with a united, swift and severe response.»
But he said he also wanted to take the opportunity to directly share with Mr. Lavrov some «concrete ideas to address some of the concerns he has raised, as well as the deep concerns many of us have about Russia’s actions».
Ukraine is already suffering from conflict. Russia seized control of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014 and backed a separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine, part of a simmering but largely stalled conflict with Ukrainian forces that has killed more than 14,000 people.
Putin has faced limited international consequences for these moves, but the West says a new invasion would be different.
A convoy of Russian armored vehicles moving along a road in the Crimea.
Source: PA
Prior to his meeting with Lavrov, Blinken met the Ukrainian president in Kiev and senior diplomats from Britain, France and Germany in Berlin this week.
In addition to its repeated verbal warnings to Russia, the United States tightened its sanctions yesterday.
The US Treasury imposed new measures on four Ukrainian officials. Blinkin said the four were at the center of the Kremlin’s effort, which began in 2020, to damage Ukraine’s ability to «operate independently».
The Russian Foreign Ministry renewed its demand on Friday not to expand NATO in Ukraine, not to deploy coalition weapons near the Russian borders, and to withdraw allied forces from Central and Eastern Europe.
Meanwhile, the US State Department has released three statements – two about Russian «disinformation», including specifically Ukraine, and another titled Taking Action to Expose and Disrupt Russia’s Destabilization Campaign in Ukraine.
The documents accused Russia and Putin of trying to remake the former Soviet Union through intimidation and force.
The Russian Foreign Ministry mocked those statements, saying they must have been prepared by Orwell’s Ministry of Truth, and Lavrov bluntly denied them.
«I hope not everyone in the State Department is working on those materials and there have been some who are working on the substance and substance of our proposals,» he said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also rejected Western allegations that Moscow was trying to rebuild the Soviet empire and carve out its zone of influence in Eastern Europe, accusing the West that it was the West who thought about the categories of spheres of influence.
Blinken has made an effort to emphasize US unity with its allies in the face of a possible Russian invasion, something that took a clear hit earlier this week when Biden drew widespread criticism for saying that retaliation for Russian aggression in Ukraine would depend on details and that «a minor incursion «It could stir up discord among the Western allies.
Yesterday, Biden sought to clarify his comments by warning that any movements of Russian forces across the Ukrainian border would constitute an invasion and that Moscow would «pay a heavy price» for such action.
«I’ve been very clear with President Putin,» Biden said. «He has no misunderstanding: any assembled Russian units moving across the Ukrainian border, this is an invasion.»
Russia denied it was planning an invasion and instead accused the West of planning «provocations» in Ukraine, citing arms deliveries to the country by British military transport planes in recent days.
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les truss
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will tell Putin he must «stop and back off» the war in Ukraine or risk being drawn into a prolonged conflict like the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
In a letter to the Russian president, the British foreign secretary said the UK and its allies «continue to stand by Ukraine».
She will urge Putin to engage in «meaningful discussions» about the crisis after Russian forces are massed near the border with Ukraine.
Her comments come after US President Joe Biden said he believed Putin did not want a full-scale war and warned that the Russian leader would pay a «heavy price» if he launched a military incursion.
Truss predicted that the invasion would drag Russia into a bloody, protracted conflict.
She will use a speech in Australia today to call on Putin to «stop and walk away from Ukraine before he makes a huge strategic mistake.»
She will claim that «the Kremlin has not learned the lessons of history» and that «an invasion would only lead to a terrible quagmire and loss of life, as we know from the Soviet-Afghan war and the conflict in Chechnya.»
The Soviet war in Afghanistan stretched throughout the 1980s, and claimed thousands of lives.
🇬🇧🇦🇺 Good to see my friend Tweet embed. We discussed investing in fair and reliable infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region, deepening security ties through AUKUS and enhancing technological and economic cooperation.
Together we will defend and promote freedom in the region and across 🌎 pic.twitter.com/WEDdFFONbz
– Liz Truss (@trussliz) January 20 2022
British Foreign Secretary and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace used their visit to Australia to strengthen defense and diplomatic ties with Sydney.
Truss will use her speech at the Lowy Institute Research Center in Sydney to highlight the need for allies like the United Kingdom and Australia to work together to meet the challenge posed by Russia and China on the world stage.
You will say that the «global aggressors» are «being emboldened in a way not seen since the Cold War.»
They seek to export dictatorship as a service around the world.
That is why regimes like Belarus, North Korea, and Myanmar find their closest allies in Moscow and Beijing.
Truss will argue that threats to «freedom, democracy, and the rule of law» are global challenges rather than regional issues, and thus require an international response from the «free world.»
«We need to work with partners like Australia, Israel, India, Japan, Indonesia and others,» she said.
“By building closer relationships with our friends and bringing other countries closer to the orbit of free market democracies, it will ultimately make us safer and freer in the years to come.
«It is time for the free world to stand up.»
with reports from © – Agence France-Presse, 2022.
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