The meeting lasted two hours on Friday morning. Antony Blinken and Sergei, heads of American and Russian diplomacy worked to overcome the Ukrainian crisis in a palace in Geneva. It is the last pas de deux of an intense diplomatic ballet which began with two conversations between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden in December.
After two hours of discussions, Antony Blinken and Sergey Lavrov separately held a press briefing. The United States has promised a written response “next week” to Russian demands for NATO withdrawal from Eastern Europe, said the head of Russian diplomacy after “frank” talks in Geneva with his American counterpart on the crisis in Ukraine.
“We agreed that we will present written responses next week to our proposals,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, stressing that he and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “agreed that ‘reasonable dialogue is necessary’ for ‘the emotion to subside’.
Sergey Lavrov: “This meeting was an interim meeting. In any case, we have reached an agreement that we will have written responses to all our proposals next week.
For his part, Antony Blinken assured that the United States would respond “to an aggression by Russia, even non-military” and declared that he had asked his counterpart for proof that Russia does not want to invade Ukraine.
The two diplomats reported having agreed to “a new contact at (their) level”. A summit of the two presidents being at this stage premature.
This meeting between Sergei Lavrov and Antony Blinken is the last stage at this stage of an intense diplomatic ballet which began with two conversations between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden in December. For Washington, the prospect of a Russian military incursion into Ukraine is increasingly likely because for weeks, tens of thousands of soldiers have been deployed on the Ukrainian border.
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The Kremlin denies any warmongering, but conditions a de-escalation on treaties guaranteeing the non-enlargement of NATO, and a de facto retreat of the Alliance from Eastern Europe. Unacceptable, say Westerners.
(and with agencies)