Blinken and Lavrov, during the meeting in Geneva. /
The US is willing to address any Russian concerns about the NATO deployment but has asked Russia for “greater transparency” about the movements of its forces on the border with Ukraine
The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, and the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, have concluded this Friday what both diplomats have agreed to describe as “useful and substantial” talks on the current tension in Ukraine, if Well, the American has once again insisted that NATO could unleash a response to any Russian invasion, while his counterpart has once again guaranteed that Moscow poses no threat. “I think we can develop this mutual understanding and reach agreements that guarantee our security, but all this depends on Russia ending its aggression in Ukraine,” Blinken said, in comments collected by the CNN network, after the meeting held in Vienna and in which Russia has again denied that it is preparing a military incursion into Ukraine. “We are committed to the path of diplomacy to try to resolve our differences. But if that proves impossible and Russia continues its aggression against Ukraine, we will give a united, swift and severe response,” Blinken said at the press conference after the meeting.
The US Secretary of State has assured that his country is willing to address any Russian concern about NATO’s regional deployment but has asked his counterpart for “greater transparency” about the movements of Russian forces on the border with Ukraine within a “spirit of reciprocity”. However, Blinken has once again insisted that “there are things that are not going to happen and NATO will not close its open doors to Ukraine” and instead has offered Russia the possibility of new security agreements. “They can choose this path or they can choose the path of international condemnation,” he warned.
Lavrov, for his part, has once again insisted that Russia poses no threat to the Ukrainian people and blamed the current situation on “anti-Russian hysteria” driven by a “Russophobic minority” that is setting the tone for the crisis. “I want to remind once again those who are analyzing our position, that Russia has never, anywhere, threatened the Ukrainian people,” Lavrov declared before going on to outline the process to be followed after this meeting, and that it could end with a new communication between the president of the United States, Joe Biden, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
written response
Blinken will meet in the next few hours with the US president to draft a written response to the regional security guarantees proposed by Russia in recent days. Lavrov will do the same with President Putin and it is expected that the ideas raised at the Vienna meeting this Friday will be developed next week with new meetings at the ministerial level and, perhaps, at the level of leaders.
“President Putin is always prepared for contacts with President Biden,” Lavrov assured, and the US president is also “completely ready” to talk, according to Blinken, while sources from the official Russian news agency Sputnik point out that these new Ministerial meetings could be repeated in the middle of next month.
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