Russia, US keep door open to Ukraine diplomacy, but big gaps remain

MOSCOW/WASHINGTON: Russia said on Thursday it was clear the US was not willing to address its main security concerns in their standoff over Ukraine, but both sides kept the door open to further dialogue.

The United States and NATO submitted written responses on Wednesday to Russia’s demands for a redrawing of post-Cold War security arrangements in Europe since it massed troops near Ukraine, prompting Western fears of an invasion and new US pledges of defense support.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow needed time for review and would not rush to conclusions, but that US and NATO statements describing Russia’s main demands as unacceptable did not leave much room for optimism.

“Based on what our (US and NATO) colleagues said yesterday, it’s absolutely clear that on the main categories outlined in those draft documents … we cannot say that our thoughts have been taken into account or that a willingness has been shown to take our concerns into account,” Peskov said. “But we won’t rush with our assessments.”

FRAGILE DIPLOMACY

With weeks of careful dialogue yet to reach a breakthrough, US President Joe Biden repeated in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Washington and its allies stand ready to respond decisively if Russia invades the former Soviet state, the White House said.

Biden said the US “is exploring additional macroeconomic support to help Ukraine’s economy amidst pressure resulting from Russia’s military build-up,” the White House said in a statement. Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter that they agreed on “joint actions for the future” and discussed possibilities for financial support. A group of U.S. senators have been meeting to draft legislation that would increase defense aid to Kyiv.

Russia’s security demands, presented in December, include an end to further NATO enlargement, barring Ukraine from ever joining and pulling back the alliance’s forces and weaponry from eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War.

The US and NATO responses were not made public, but both had already rejected those demands while expressing willingness to engage on issues such as arms control, confidence-building measures and limits on the size and scope of military exercises.

China told the United States it wants all parties involved in Ukraine to remain calm “and refrain from doing things that agitate tensions and hype up the crisis.”

Washington had its own message for Beijing, Nuland said.

“We are calling on Beijing to use its influence with Moscow to urge diplomacy, because if there is a conflict in Ukraine it is not going to be good for China either,” she said.

With China-Russia relations possibly at their warmest in history, Washington cannot expect Chinese backing for its position in the standoff, policy experts said.

A day after Ukrainian, Russian, German and French diplomats discussed the conflict in eastern Ukraine and agreed to more talks, Russia’s foreign minister said there was hope of starting serious dialogue with the US, but only on secondary issues.

The United States has requested that the United Nations Security Council meet publicly on Monday to discuss the threat posed by Russia’s build-up near Ukraine, the US Ambassador to the United Nations said.