10 minutes agoThe situation in Ukraine begins meeting NATO Russia
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)Russia and NATO are meeting in Brussels on Wednesday in an effort to reduce tensions along the border between Russia and Ukraine. NATO opposes gathering Russian troops along the border, saying they violate European security. In turn, Russia is seeking security guarantees as limiting the expansion of the 30-member alliance [...]
The United States' ambassador to NATO, Juliane Smith, told reporters prior to Wednesday's talks that NATO is committed to see if diplomacy can defuse the situation and that the general topics of discussion will be around <x0m> risk, transparency, weapons control and different ways in which we communicate with each other”.
Ambassador Smith expressed US solidarity with Ukraine, adding that the Russian <x0 operations have prompted this crisis” and NATO allies are willing to prevent further Russian aggression. “If Russia follows the path of confrontation and military action, we have made it clear to the Kremlin that we will respond decisively, including a series of influential economic measures”, said Mrs. Smith, stressing that “the Alliance, we are prepared to reinforce NATO protection on the east wing and are prepared to impose a heavy price on further Russian aggression in Ukraine<5>.
Wednesday's meeting is the second of three opportunities this week for American and European diplomats to speak directly with Russian officials about the situation in Ukraine. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe meets in Vienna on Thursday.
On Monday in Geneva, American and Russian diplomats held the first meeting, but both sides hinted there was no major progress. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that the talks in Geneva were “open, comprehensive and direct”, an assessment made by Washington as well. But, he said the result is what ultimately matters. ” So far, let's say that we see no important reason for optimism”, spokesman Peskov told reporters.
Victoria Nuland, deputy secretary of state for political affairs, told reporters on Tuesday that “we have not seen a smaller sign of deployment” on Russia's side, which she said, “created this crisis” by placing 100,000 troops on the eastern border of Ukraine.
In the Geneva talks, Russia demanded guarantees -- rejected by the United States -- that NATO end further eastward expansion and curb deployment of military troops to Eastern Europe. “NATO poses no threat to Russia. It is a defence alliance whose sole purpose is to protect its members”, said Mrs. Nuland.
Western allies fear that Russia is planning to invade Ukraine after annexing its Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Russia denies it is planning to invade the state that was once its satellite in the Soviet period, but has also disagreed with US demands to withdraw troops from the border.
US President Joe Biden has ruled out the possibility of a military confrontation with Russia, in case it decides to attack Ukraine, but says the US and its allies will impose strong economic sanctions if that happens.
