Powered by
Sponsored by

Russia-US meet on Ukraine today, as both sides harden stance

Russian president Vladimir Putin has laid out a list of demands

urkaine-soldeir-russia-Donetsk-ap A Ukrainian soldier holds a cat and walks in a trench on the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels near Debaltsevo, Donetsk region, Ukraine | AP

Senior officials from Russia and the US attended a dinner in Geneva, ahead of meetings on the Ukraine issue that has caused the ties to be deteriorated. There were reports of mass build-up of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border, causing consternation in Washington as to the possibility of an impending invasion. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and other officials arrived on Sunday evening for the meeting at the residence of the US ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament. Ryabkov was meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and her team.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has laid out a list of demands, such as seeking guarantees that the NATO military alliance won't seek to expand any further eastward to countries like Ukraine or Georgia, which are former Soviet republics. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC's This Week on Sunday that he didn't expect any breakthroughs in talks in the bilateral talks. The United States and other Western allies have pledged severe costs to Russia if it moves against Ukraine.

Putin has repeatedly warned that Moscow will have to take unspecified military-technical measures if the West stonewalls Russia's demands, and affirmed that NATO membership for Ukraine or the deployment of alliance weapons there is a red line for Moscow that it wouldn't allow the West to cross. "We have nowhere to retreat," Putin said last month, adding that NATO could deploy missiles in Ukraine that would take just four or five minutes to reach Moscow. "They have pushed us to a line that we can't cross. They have taken it to the point where we simply must tell them; Stop!'"

Ryabkov, who will lead Russia's delegation, said last week that it will quickly become clear whether the talks could be productive. "It will become clear after the next week's events whether it's possible to achieve quick progress, to quickly advance on issues that are of interest to us," he said in an interview with the daily Izvestia.

📣 The Week is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TheWeekmagazine) and stay updated with the latest headlines