The United States, keeping in view the Moscow\u2019s reservations, promised a written response to Russian security requirements next week
\n GENEVA
\nWashington and Moscow\u2019s top diplomats on Friday agreed to keep working to ease tensions over Ukraine, with the United States promising a written response to Russian security requirements next week and not ruling out a presidential meeting.
\nAs fears grew that Russia could invade its pro-Western neighbour, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken renewed warnings of severe Western reprisals as he met for 90 minutes with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva.
\nThe Russian foreign ministry said later that in his talks with Blinken, Lavrov had vowed \u201cthe most serious consequences\u201d if Washington kept ignoring Moscow\u2019s security demands.
\nBlinken described the high-stakes talks as \u201cfrank\u201d, with Lavrov also voicing hope for a lowering of the temperature between the former Cold War foes.
\nRussia has massed tens of thousands of troops on the Ukrainian border, denying it plans to invade but demanding security guarantees, including a permanent ban on the country joining NATO.
\nBlinken said that Washington will share written ideas with Russia next week in which it will also make clear its own positions.
\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t expect any major breakthroughs to happen today, but I believe we are now on a clear path in terms of understanding each other\u2019s concerns and each other\u2019s positions,\u201d Blinken told reporters.
\n\u201cWe anticipate that we will be able to share with Russia our concerns and ideas in more detail in writing next week and we agreed to further discussions after that,\u201d he added.
\nSpeaking separately, Lavrov told reporters: \u201cAntony Blinken agreed that we need to have a reasonable dialogue, and I hope emotions will decrease.\u201d
\nHe added that another meeting could be held between the two, but that it was \u201cpremature\u201d to start talking about another summit between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, who met in Geneva last June.
\nBlinken, however, did not rule out fresh talks between the presidents after Biden twice warned Putin by telephone of consequences for any Ukraine invasion.
\n\u201cIf we conclude (and) the Russians conclude that the best way to resolve things is through a further conversation between them, we\u2019re certainly prepared to do that,\u201d Blinken said.
\nBiden bluntly assessed on Wednesday that Putin is likely to \u201cmove in\u201d on Ukraine and warned of a \u201cdisaster for Russia\u201d.
\nA senior US official, speaking to reporters later Friday, said Washington was preparing to send proposals to the Russians and was in close coordination with \u201cour allies\u201d.
\n\u201cThe United States does not plan a public release,\u201d she said.
\n– \u2018Chance to avoid catastrophe\u2019 –
\nIn Kyiv, Ukrainian officials welcomed the continuation of talks.
\n\u201cGood to know that diplomatic track of contacts with Russia remains active,\u201d tweeted Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba after speaking with Blinken, adding the two also discussed further strengthening Ukraine\u2019s defences.
\n\u201cRussia now has a chance to avoid a catastrophic scenario,\u201d President Volodymyr Zelensky\u2019s aide Mykhailo Podolyak told AFP.
\nRussia, which already fuels a deadly insurgency in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 13,000 people since 2014, has demanded guarantees that NATO never admit the former Soviet republic or expand otherwise in Moscow\u2019s old sphere.
\nThe United States has declared the idea a \u201cnon-starter\u201d.
\nEarlier on Friday Russia reiterated demands for the \u201cwithdrawal of foreign forces, hardware and arms\u201d from countries that were not NATO members before 1997, this time singling out Bulgaria and Romania, two former Warsaw Pact countries that joined NATO in 2004.
\nRomania\u2019s foreign ministry quickly hit back, calling the demand \u201cunacceptable\u201d.
\nNATO rejected the demand saying it would \u201cnot renounce our ability to protect and defend each other, including with the presence of troops in the eastern part of the Alliance\u201d.
\nBlinken headed to Geneva after a trip to Kyiv and talks with Britain, France and Germany in Berlin.
\nEven while rejecting the core Russian demands, the Biden administration has said it is willing to speak to Moscow about its security concerns.
\nOne proposal by Washington is to revive restrictions on missiles in Europe that had been set by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a Cold War deal trashed by then- president Donald Trump\u2019s administration as it accused Moscow of violations.
\n– US says clock is ticking –
\nThe Biden administration has also offered more transparency on military exercises.
\nRussia has not rejected the proposals but says that its core concern is Ukraine and on Thursday announced massive naval drills as a show of force.
\nThe United States has warned that the clock is ticking, putting forward intelligence alleging that an invasion could come shortly and be preceded by a \u201cfalse-flag\u201d operation as Russia tries to trigger a pretext against Ukraine.
\nBlinken said he asked Lavrov to prove Russia has no intention to invade.
\n\u201cIf Russia wants to begin to convince the world that it has no aggressive intent toward Ukraine, a very good place to start would be by de-escalating, by bringing back — removing — those forces on Ukraine\u2019s border,\u201d he said.
\nLawmakers in Russia\u2019s parliament have presented a bill that would ask Putin to recognise the independence of two pro-Moscow separatist territories in Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk.
\nUkraine\u2019s military intelligence service on Friday accused Russia of sending fresh arms and equipment to the separatists since the start of this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The United States, keeping in view the Moscow\u2019s reservations, promised a written response to Russian security requirements next week GENEVA Washington and Moscow\u2019s top diplomats on Friday agreed to keep working to ease tensions over Ukraine, with the United States promising a written response to Russian security requirements next week and not ruling out a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2224,338,303,456,444],"class_list":{"0":"post-240162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-diplomats","9":"tag-russia","10":"tag-standoff","11":"tag-ukraine","12":"tag-us"},"yoast_head":"\n