The United States and Russia once again discussed the crisis of the concentration of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine, this time at the United Nations Security Council, but as in previous talks between the two countries on the subject, there was no progress in the negotiations.
This Monday (31), the differences between Washington and Moscow began even before the pronouncements in New York, in the vote to decide whether the meeting called by the Americans would be open, which was approved by ten votes to two. Only Russia and China voted against; India, Gabon and Kenya abstained.
Russian UN Ambassador Vassili Nebenzia reiterated Moscow’s argument that Russia is only for self-defense and does not intend to attack Ukraine, and accused the West of heightening tensions.
“You are almost asking for this (an invasion of Ukraine), you want this to happen. You are waiting for this to happen, as if to make your words come true. This is despite the fact that we are constantly rejecting these allegations and that no threat of a planned invasion of Ukraine has come out of the mouth of any Russian politician or public figure during this entire period,” Nebenzia said.
The ambassador added that the United States was responsible for the 2014 overthrow of the then pro-Moscow Ukrainian government, which, according to Nebenzia, brought “nationalists, radicals, Russophobes and pure Nazis” to power.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, claimed that the attempts to destabilize Eastern Europe come exclusively from the Kremlin.
“We continue to hope that Russia will choose the path of diplomacy over the path of conflict in Ukraine. But we cannot just ‘wait and see’. It is crucial that this council addresses the risk that this aggressive and destabilizing behavior poses to the entire world,” he said. The meeting ended without any commitment being signed.
This Tuesday (1st), Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who already met in Geneva the week before last to discuss the crisis, will speak again by phone.
It will be the first debate between the two after the United States responded in writing (last week) to demands from Russia to demobilize its troops on the border with Ukraine, as a permanent ban on Ukraine’s entry into NATO, the Western military alliance. and that it returns to the positions before 1997, when several countries of the former communist bloc began to join the group.
In the response, Washington claimed that NATO will maintain its “open-door” policy and will not deny entry to any country. On Monday, the Americans confirmed that the Russians had also sent a written response to the document.
The United States and the United Kingdom have announced that they are preparing sanctions against close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin if Ukraine is invaded. These measures would include asset freezes and travel bans to these countries. Sanctions would also be imposed on companies linked to the Kremlin.
However, Washington and London chose not to say on Monday which people and companies would be targeted by these sanctions. Personal punishments against Putin are also being considered by Americans.
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