[ad_1]
Poland’s foreign minister said Thursday that Europe was in danger of entering the war. His comments come as Moscow says efforts for a diplomatic solution will continue, noting at the same time that its military experts were preparing alternatives if tensions over Ukraine do not subside.
US Ambassador to the OSCE Michael Carpenter said after talks with Russia in Vienna that the West should prepare for a possible escalation of tensions with Moscow. “The drum of war is falling sharply and the rhetoric has become quite sharp“, He told reporters.
Russia said the dialogue would continue, but was heading for a dead end, citing its efforts to persuade the West not to allow Ukraine’s NATO membership and to undo decades of alliance expansion in Europe. , these demands that the United States has called inadmissible.
“At this stage (that we are) it is really disappointing“Russian Ambassador Alexander Lukashevich told reporters after a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the third attempt in a series of East-West talks this week.
He warned of ‘potentially catastrophic consequences’ if the two sides could not agree on what Russia has called the ‘red line’ regarding security. He added, however, that Moscow had not given up diplomacy and would even speed it up.
The comments by Russian officials reflect a well-known model in Moscow, which says it wants to continue its diplomatic efforts but rejects calls to stop the gathering of its military troops near Ukraine, while warning of consequences it has not specified. western security if its requirements are not taken into account.
Earlier, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau told a security forum attended by 57 countries that “the risk of war in the OSCE area seems to be currently greater than ever in the last 30 years.”
His comment underscored the level of European anxiety about Russia’s growing military presence on the border with Ukraine. Moscow has stationed about 100,000 troops there.
Mr Rau announced no progress after the meeting, which followed a Russia-US meeting in Geneva on Monday and a Russia-NATO council meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.
Differences in access
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said previous meetings had shown that there was a “stalemate or change in approach” and that he saw no reason to sit down again in the coming days to resume the same discussions.
He told RTVI television that Russian military specialists were offering alternatives to President Vladimir Putin if the situation around Ukraine deteriorated, but added that diplomacy should be given a chance. “I must reiterate that dialogue is still taking place on many levels and in many directions,” Mr Ryabkov said.
The Russian currency, the ruble, fell more than 2% against the dollar from Mr Ryabkov’s comments, which also prompted the sale of government bonds. A representative of a major Russian bank told Reuters that the market had reacted in part to a comment by Mr Ryabkov in response to a question that neither confirmed nor ruled out the possibility that Russia could deploy “infrastructure”. military ”in Cuba and Venezuela.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told MSNBC that “it is not known which path Vladimir Putin will choose. Will it choose the path of diplomacy and dialogue, to solve some of these problems, or will it follow the path of confrontation and aggression? ”
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made a phone call to his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksi Reznikov, to discuss increasing Russia’s military presence. The Pentagon estimates that about two-thirds of Russian forces near Ukraine have come from various parts of the country.
“I believe that the only way for the Russians to confirm that they do not intend to solve the problems by force is to continue the discussions, according to the formats established, especially in the OSCE,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Russia has dismissed comments that it was planning an attack on Ukraine, but the deployment of military troops has forced the United States and its allies to sit at the negotiating table.
Moscow says it feels threatened by NATO enlargement to its borders, expanding with 14 new members from Eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War. It wants to draw “red lines” to prevent the alliance from accepting Ukraine as a member or to deploy missiles there.
Washington has rejected those demands, but says it is ready to discuss the issue of arms control, missile deployment and confidence-building measures to overcome one of the most difficult moments in East-West relations since the war. Cold.
Elimination of threats
Ambassador Lukashevich said during the meeting within the OSCE that if Moscow does not receive a constructive response: “we will be forced to draw the right conclusions and take all necessary measures to ensure strategic balance and eliminate unacceptable threats to our national security“.
He went on to say:Russia is a peace-loving country. But we do not need peace at all costs. The need to obtain these legally formalized security guarantees for us is unconditional“.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said after talks with Russia on Wednesday that countries should be free to choose their own security agreements.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticized a sanctions bill introduced by Democrats in the US Senate on Wednesday, saying that if Russia invaded Ukraine, sanctions would be imposed on senior Russian government officials and the military, including President Vladimir Putin. banking institutions.
Mr Peskov said imposing sanctions on Mr Putin would be tantamount to severing ties.
“We see the submission of such documents and statements as an extremely negative development against the background of a series of ongoing, albeit unsuccessful, negotiations.He said.
Mr Peskov was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency that Mr Putin was receiving regular updates on the talks and that the Kremlin was clear on the outcome but was awaiting a written response.
Mr Carpenter told the OSCE meeting: “As we prepare for an open dialogue on how to strengthen security for the good of all, we must resolutely reject blackmail and never allow aggression and threats to be rewarded.“.
Russia has said it will decide on its next move after talks this week and threatened “military-technical measures”, which it did not specify if its demands were rejected.
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on Wednesday that if Russia withdrew (from diplomatic efforts), this would be an indication that it has not taken diplomacy seriously since the beginning of the year./VOA
top channel
[ad_2]
Source link
