Russia rules out concession at US talks over Ukraine
Russian troops take part in drills at a firing range in Rostov last month. (AP pic)
GENEVA: Russia ruled out today any concession at talks with the US on soaring tensions over Ukraine as Moscow seeks a wide-ranging new security arrangement with the west but faces strong pressure to pull back troops.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian news agencies ahead of his talks in Geneva the Kremlin was also “disappointed” with signals coming from both Washington and Brussels, where Nato and the European Union are based.
The high-level discussions start a week of diplomacy in which Russia will meet with Nato and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), with the US trying to assure European allies they will not be sidelined.
Russia since late last year has amassed tens of thousands of troops at the Ukrainian border and demanded guarantees that Nato will not expand further eastward.
The Kremlin is insisting Nato must never grant membership to ex-Soviet Ukraine, which is pushing to join.
The US, to be represented by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, agreed to talks even though it made plain that many of Moscow’s proposals are non-starters.
Originally scheduled to start tomorrow, Sherman is now due to have a working dinner with Ryabkov this evening, said a state department spokesman.
“We will not agree to any concession. That is completely excluded,” Ryabkov said.
“We are disappointed with the signals coming in the last few days from Washington but also from Brussels.”
Secretary of state Antony Blinken, dismissing Moscow’s demands as “gaslighting”, has insisted that talks will yield no progress so long as Russia has a “gun to Ukraine’s head”.
“We’re prepared to respond forcefully to further Russian aggression. But a diplomatic solution is still possible and preferable if Russia chooses it,” Blinken said Friday.
Russian president Vladimir Putin met his US counterpart Joe Biden in Geneva in June and agreed on regular “stability” talks between Sherman and Ryabkov, who will again lead the Russian delegation.
‘Massive’ retaliation
GENEVA: Russia ruled out today any concession at talks with the US on soaring tensions over Ukraine as Moscow seeks a wide-ranging new security arrangement with the west but faces strong pressure to pull back troops.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian news agencies ahead of his talks in Geneva the Kremlin was also “disappointed” with signals coming from both Washington and Brussels, where Nato and the European Union are based.
The high-level discussions start a week of diplomacy in which Russia will meet with Nato and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), with the US trying to assure European allies they will not be sidelined.
Russia since late last year has amassed tens of thousands of troops at the Ukrainian border and demanded guarantees that Nato will not expand further eastward.
The Kremlin is insisting Nato must never grant membership to ex-Soviet Ukraine, which is pushing to join.
The US, to be represented by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, agreed to talks even though it made plain that many of Moscow’s proposals are non-starters.
Originally scheduled to start tomorrow, Sherman is now due to have a working dinner with Ryabkov this evening, said a state department spokesman.
“We will not agree to any concession. That is completely excluded,” Ryabkov said.
“We are disappointed with the signals coming in the last few days from Washington but also from Brussels.”
Secretary of state Antony Blinken, dismissing Moscow’s demands as “gaslighting”, has insisted that talks will yield no progress so long as Russia has a “gun to Ukraine’s head”.
“We’re prepared to respond forcefully to further Russian aggression. But a diplomatic solution is still possible and preferable if Russia chooses it,” Blinken said Friday.
Russian president Vladimir Putin met his US counterpart Joe Biden in Geneva in June and agreed on regular “stability” talks between Sherman and Ryabkov, who will again lead the Russian delegation.
‘Massive’ retaliation
US president Joe Biden has warned of severe consequences if Russia invades Ukraine. (AP pic)
In two phone calls to Putin, Biden has warned of severe consequences if Russia invades Ukraine.
Measures under consideration include sanctions on Putin’s inner circle, cancelling Russia’s controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany or, in the most drastic scenario, severing Russia’s links to the world’s banking system.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, warned that Washington would also send more troops to eastern Nato members such as Poland and the Baltics if Russia invaded.
Europeans have showed solidarity, with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visiting the frontline in Ukraine, although some nations are expected to hesitate at the strongest measures.
“Whatever the solution, Europe has to be involved,” EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.
Russia insists it was deceived after the Cold War and understood that Nato would not expand.
Instead, the US-led alliance accepted most of the former Warsaw Pact nations and the three Baltic nations that were under Soviet rule.
Russia has put intense pressure on neighbouring Ukraine since 2014 after a revolution overthrew a government that had sided with the Kremlin against moving closer to Europe.
Russia seized the Crimean peninsula and backs an insurgency in eastern Ukraine in which more than 13,000 people have died.
At a time when Russia is also intervening to shore up allies facing popular uprisings in Belarus and Kazakhstan, Moscow has insisted it wants concrete progress in talks with Washington.
Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov warned after the call with Biden that the US would make a “colossal mistake” if it went ahead with sanctions.
‘Gigantic bluff’?
“It is very likely that we will encounter the reticence of our US and Nato colleagues to really perceive what we need,” Ryabkov said today.
In spite “of the threats that are constantly formulated against us … we wil make no concession”, he said, adding it would “amount to acting against the interests of our seccurity”.
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg, meeting foreign ministers of the alliance on Friday, said there remained real risks of a Russian invasion.
But John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, described the Russian troop build-up as a “gigantic bluff” by Putin to seek a negotiated agreement.
“They are trying to see if the Biden administration or Europe will blink,” said Herbst, now at the Atlantic Council think tank.
“As long as the Biden administration remains at least as strong as it is now,” he said, “it probably is enough to keep Putin from striking large into Ukraine, but I don’t rule out something smaller.”
Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, said the Geneva talks were more about preventing the Ukraine crisis from accelerating than reaching a major deal.
In two phone calls to Putin, Biden has warned of severe consequences if Russia invades Ukraine.
Measures under consideration include sanctions on Putin’s inner circle, cancelling Russia’s controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany or, in the most drastic scenario, severing Russia’s links to the world’s banking system.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, warned that Washington would also send more troops to eastern Nato members such as Poland and the Baltics if Russia invaded.
Europeans have showed solidarity, with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visiting the frontline in Ukraine, although some nations are expected to hesitate at the strongest measures.
“Whatever the solution, Europe has to be involved,” EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.
Russia insists it was deceived after the Cold War and understood that Nato would not expand.
Instead, the US-led alliance accepted most of the former Warsaw Pact nations and the three Baltic nations that were under Soviet rule.
Russia has put intense pressure on neighbouring Ukraine since 2014 after a revolution overthrew a government that had sided with the Kremlin against moving closer to Europe.
Russia seized the Crimean peninsula and backs an insurgency in eastern Ukraine in which more than 13,000 people have died.
At a time when Russia is also intervening to shore up allies facing popular uprisings in Belarus and Kazakhstan, Moscow has insisted it wants concrete progress in talks with Washington.
Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov warned after the call with Biden that the US would make a “colossal mistake” if it went ahead with sanctions.
‘Gigantic bluff’?
“It is very likely that we will encounter the reticence of our US and Nato colleagues to really perceive what we need,” Ryabkov said today.
In spite “of the threats that are constantly formulated against us … we wil make no concession”, he said, adding it would “amount to acting against the interests of our seccurity”.
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg, meeting foreign ministers of the alliance on Friday, said there remained real risks of a Russian invasion.
But John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, described the Russian troop build-up as a “gigantic bluff” by Putin to seek a negotiated agreement.
“They are trying to see if the Biden administration or Europe will blink,” said Herbst, now at the Atlantic Council think tank.
“As long as the Biden administration remains at least as strong as it is now,” he said, “it probably is enough to keep Putin from striking large into Ukraine, but I don’t rule out something smaller.”
Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, said the Geneva talks were more about preventing the Ukraine crisis from accelerating than reaching a major deal.
How many remembered the bay of pig invasion of Cuba?
ReplyDeleteDitto too with missile crisis in that same island that almost started a nuclear Armageddon?
Just bcoz an abrasive self declared world policeman couldn't stand his backyard been occupied & missile-ized by a foreign power having a different political ideology to his!
Sound familiar?
That's the same karmic consequence been played in Ukraine by Russia to US!
During the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962, the Soviet ships approaching Cuba with nuclear-tipped Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile on board were in plain sight, because the missiles were too big to fit inside the ship's cargo hold.
DeleteThe USA had every right to regard the Soviet action as an warlike act.
There are no American armored divisions in Ukraine, no American missiles in Ukraine.
So what is the Russian talk-cock ?
US nuclear bombs are already located in NATO nations like Poland, Germany, and I suspect the all-too-fawning Baltic nations. Germany's tornADO FIGHTER-BOMBER AIRCRAFT HAVE BEEN OPERATIONALISED TO CARRY us NUCLEAR BOMBS. IF RUSSIA DOES not STOP UKRAINE FROM JOINING NATO, THE UKRANIAN AIR FORCE WILL SOON BE CARRYING THOSE US NUCLEAR BOMBS, AIMED OF COURSE AT RUSSIA
DeleteDON'T BE SO FRANTIC IN YOUR DEFENCE OF US SINISTER OBJECTIVES OF SURROUDNING RUSSIA (AND CHINA), WAKAKAKA
Wakakakakakaka…
DeleteThis old moneyed mfer DOES know fart about the sinister plan of its idol in military operations.
Everything the Yankee does fit its wettest dream!
"…in October 1962, the Soviet ships approaching Cuba with nuclear-tipped Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile on board were in plain sight, because the missiles were too big to fit inside the ship's cargo hold."
DeleteWhat a brainless c&p rant from a genuflecting Yankee myrmidon who read every farts as gospel from its idol!
1st - Do u know what's the p-p range of the Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile? How far is the recognized Cuba missile site from these targets?
Is Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile needed to take out those targets on proving a nuclear strike capability?
That Cuban site was ONLY 90 miles from U.S. shores!
2nd - do u really think that the Russko would be so reckless in openly transport Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile on a cargo ship w/o camouflage?
Ooop… Yankee acolytes r been indoctrinated with the mindless stupidities of the Russko w/o questioning!
3rd - what were the Russko ships & their tonnages, been blockaged to entered Cuban during that 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962?
"missiles were too big to fit inside the ship's cargo hold."
Wakakakakaka…
Besides, according to the spying report of an American U-2 spy plane piloted by Major Richard Heyser making a high-altitude pass over Cuba on October 14, 1962, photographed a Soviet SS-4 medium-range ballistic "missile being assembled for installation".
The missile was ALREADY on Cuban soil!
Old moneyed mfer, either u do like to eat shits distributed from yr idol! Or u r just truly brainless!
It is fake news that there are US Nuclear Bombs in Poland.
DeleteThe last time there were nuclear weapons on Polish soil , they were Soviet nuclear missiles during the Warsaw Pact era.
There have been US Nuclear weapons in West Germany for 70 years as part of the NATO deterrence against the Soviet Union and its successor Russia.
Germany , from West German days, has had nuclear-capable aircraft for the last 50 years. part of the NATO detterence setup.
The USSR, always had far more powerful conventional forces than the combination of European NATO forces and US forces in Europe. Russia is building up similar forces.
US sinister objectives ? In fact US forces in Europe today are relatively puny.
The boorish , crude Russian Bear out on full display , threatening this aggression, that aggression.
ReplyDeleteThe Yanks aren't interested in putting boots on the ground in Ukraine, but together with European countries, a Russian invasion of Ukraine can made very painful for Russia.
Wakakakakaka…
DeleteThis will be a very cold winter for most parts of western Europe.
The NordStream II is been torpedoed while Russia is gamed on to further reduce supplying heating gas to EU!
Painful indeed!