US, Russia hold talks amid tensions linked to Ukraine

By KONSTANTIN MANENKOV and JAMEY KEATEN

GENEVA (AP) — Senior U.S. and Russian officials launched peculiar talks Monday aimed astatine defusing tensions implicit a Russian subject buildup connected the borderline with Ukraine, portion of a flurry of diplomatic enactment successful Europe this week.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and his delegation arrived nether Swiss constabulary escort astatine the U.S. diplomatic ngo successful Geneva for face-to-face talks with Wendy Sherman, the U.S. lawman caput of state, and her team. The gathering is portion of “Strategic Security Dialogue” talks connected arms power and different wide issues launched by Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin during a June acme successful the Swiss city.

No large breakthrough was instantly successful sight.

After an informal moving meal Sunday, Ryabkov predicted “difficult” talks successful Geneva that are to beryllium followed by a NATO-Russia gathering successful Brussels connected Wednesday and a gathering Thursday successful Vienna of the multilateral Organization for Security and Cooperation successful Europe.

Moscow has sought to wrest a drawstring of concessions from the U.S. and its Western allies, including guarantees that NATO volition nary longer grow eastward into erstwhile Soviet states similar Ukraine, on whose borderline Russia has massed an estimated 100,000 troops successful steps that person raised concerns astir a imaginable subject involution there.

Sherman “stressed the United States’ committedness to the planetary principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and the state of sovereign nations to take their ain alliances” astatine the dinner, said State Department spokesperson Ned Price, a notation to Ukraine and its aspirations of joining NATO. Many analysts accidental immoderate specified determination would beryllium years distant astatine best.

Sherman “affirmed that the United States would invited genuine advancement done diplomacy,” Price said.

The U.S. has played down hopes of important advancement this week and said immoderate demands — similar a imaginable halt to NATO enlargement — spell against countries’ sovereign rights to acceptable up their ain information arrangements, and are frankincense non-negotiable.

But U.S. officials person expressed openness to different ideas, similar curtailing imaginable aboriginal deployments of violative missiles successful Ukraine and putting limits connected American and NATO subject exercises successful Eastern Europe — if Russia is consenting to backmost disconnected connected Ukraine.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said bluntly Sunday that helium doesn’t expect immoderate breakthroughs successful the coming week. Instead, helium said a much apt affirmative result would beryllium an statement to de-escalate tensions successful the abbreviated word and instrumentality to talks astatine an due clip successful the future. But the U.S. volition person to spot a de-escalation for determination to beryllium existent progress.

“It’s precise hard to spot that happening erstwhile there’s an ongoing escalation, erstwhile Russia has a weapon to the caput of Ukraine with 100,000 troops adjacent its borders, the anticipation of doubling that connected precise abbreviated order,” Blinken said connected ABC’s “This Week.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg besides sought to play down expectations.

“I don’t deliberation that we tin expect that these meetings volition lick each the issues,” helium told reporters successful Brussels connected Monday aft talks with Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s lawman premier curate for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration. “What we are hoping for is that we tin hold connected a mode forward, that we tin hold connected a bid of meetings, that we tin hold connected a process.”

Speaking to reporters during a sojourn to Rome, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said dialog offered the lone mode retired of the crisis.

“At the aforesaid time, it’s arsenic wide that a renewed breach of Ukrainian sovereignty by Russia would person sedate consequences,” she said.

Russia has said it wants the contented resolved this month, but NATO is wary that Putin mightiness beryllium looking for a pretext, specified arsenic a nonaccomplishment successful the negotiations, to motorboat an invasion.

The United States, which has emphasized that Ukraine’s authorities and those of different European countries request to beryllium included successful the discussions, plans to sermon immoderate bilateral issues successful Geneva “but volition not sermon European information without our European allies and partners,” Price said Sunday.

Russia entered the talks seeking a clearer knowing of the U.S. presumption and cited signals from Washington that immoderate of the Russian proposals tin beryllium discussed, Ryabkov said, according to authorities quality bureau Tass connected Sunday.

Ryabkov laid retired Russia’s 3 demands: nary further NATO expansion, nary missiles connected Russia’s borders, and for NATO nary longer to person subject exercises, quality operations oregon infrastructure extracurricular of its 1997 borders.

“The Russian broadside came present with a wide presumption that contains a fig of elements that, to my mind, are understandable and person been truthful intelligibly formulated — including astatine a precocious level — that deviating from our approaches simply is not possible,” Ryabkov told reporters Sunday.

Asked whether Russia was acceptable for compromise, helium said: “The Americans should get acceptable to scope a compromise.” ___

Vladimir Isachenkov successful Moscow, Lorne Cook successful Brussels, Frank Jordans successful Berlin, and Matthew Lee successful Washington contributed.