Top U.S. and Russian diplomats met for a second round of diplomatic talks about the ongoing Ukraine crisis. While there were no major breakthroughs, the two sides agreed to keep the diplomatic channels going and keep talking, in hopes to resolve the crisis diplomatically, not militarily.
Fears of a military conflict have been increasing since Russia massed 100,000 troops at its border with Ukraine. Last week, Russia had a marathon round of three different peace talks with Western-allied countries. The first was last Monday with the U.S. in Geneva.
The second, a talk with NATO, and the third, a session of the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe. Today’s meeting was therefore the follow-up to last Monday’s meeting between the U.S. and Russia, also in Geneva.
Following this round of talks, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Russia would b Emet with “swift, severe” responses if the country invaded Ukraine.
His counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said that his country was still awaiting a written response to demands it made for security guarantees.
Even though there was not much movement from either side, both said they remained open to further discussions.
Blinken said that Russia faces a choice of diplomacy or conflict. The first would lead to peace and security, and the second would bring with it severe consequences and international condemnation.
But Lavrov said they believe the ball is in the U.S.’s court. He said that the meeting was open and useful, but it wouldn’t be until Moscow received a written response to their security demands that they will be able to decide whether the talks are on the right track.
Russia wants to block Ukraine from ever being able to join the alliance, and wants a halt to NATO’s eastern expansion. The U.S. last week, though, said that these were “nonstarters.”
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