Blinken and Lavrov discuss tension over Ukraine

Today, Tuesday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, the US State Department confirmed.
Blinken called for a diplomatic approach to end the crisis in Ukraine.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken “stressed the importance of continuing a diplomatic path to de-escalation surrounding alarming Russian military buildup in and near Ukraine.”
Ned Price’s comments came before the US Secretary of State headed to Ukraine.
This comes as Moscow refused, on Tuesday, to hold new talks on Ukraine unless the West responds to its demands.
And last week’s talks in Geneva, Brussels and Vienna failed to reach an agreement between Russia and the West.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday he had called on Russia and NATO allies for more discussions on Ukraine as diplomatic efforts intensified in recent weeks.
“Today I invited Russia and all NATO allies to participate in a series of NATO-Russia Council meetings in the near future to address our concerns, but also to listen to Russia’s concerns and try to find a solution” to get out of the crisis, Stoltenberg added, during a press conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. .
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today, Tuesday, that there will be no further negotiations until the West provides appropriate answers.
“We are now waiting for answers to these proposals – as promised – in order to continue negotiations,” he added, in a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Birbock.
“Let us hope that these talks will continue,” Lavrov said.

Security guarantees, demanded by Russia, include non-attachment of NATO countries close to Russia such as Ukraine and Georgia as well as restrictions on NATO expansion in the former Soviet Baltic states that joined NATO after the Cold War.

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