The United States has again urged Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine’s borders amid continued fears that Moscow is preparing to invade its neighbor despite fresh reassurances that it would not start a war.
U.S. Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan said on January 28 that Washington was now waiting for Russia’s response to its written proposals for a diplomatic path out of the Ukraine crisis, voicing hope that meeting between U.S. and Russian diplomats could then follow.
Sullivan said diplomacy was the only way forward, but warned that could only happen if Russia starts dismantling its buildup near the Ukraine border, estimated by Western intelligence at more that 100,000 troops.
“If I put a gun on the table and come in peace, that’s threatening,” Sullivan told an online briefing.
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He also warned that economic sanctions would be just one part of the West’s response if Russia were to invade Ukraine, saying that other measures would include export controls, greater defense of allies in Europe, and preventing the Nord Stream 2 natural-gas pipeline from Russia to Germany from operating.
U.S. officials have indicated that possible punitive measures against Russia such as disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT system of global bank transfers or imposing an expanded ban on high-tech exports to Russia are under consideration.
Sullivan also said the size of the Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s borders would allow an invasion with little warning.
His comments came hot on the heels of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s reassurances that it won’t be Russia’s decision to start a war against Ukraine — but with the caveat that Moscow will not allow its interests to be “ignored.”
Russia is demanding security guarantees from the West in exchange for a de-escalation of the crisis over Ukraine, but the United States and NATO on January 26 rejected Moscow’s demand to permanently shut the door on Ukraine — and other former Soviet republics — from ever joining the Western alliance.
NATO also said allied deployments of troops and military equipment in Eastern Europe are not negotiable.
However, Washington laid out in its response a “serious diplomatic path” to resolve the Ukraine crisis, while repeating threats of unprecedented economic sanctions should Russian further invade Ukraine.
“If it depends on the Russian Federation, there won’t be a war,” Lavrov said in an interview with Russian radio stations in an indication Moscow is willing to continue to engage in finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
“We do not want wars but we won’t allow our interests to be rudely trod upon or to be ignored,” Lavrov said, adding that the U.S. proposals were “almost an example of diplomatic propriety,” compared to NATO’s highly “idealized” response.
Lavrov said he expected to meet U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the next couple of weeks for a new round of talks amid the crisis, though ultimately Russian President Vladimir Putin would decide how to respond to the U.S. proposals.
He added that a new round of U.S. sanctions against Moscow would likely lead to the severing of relations between the United States and Russia.
“The Americans were told, including at the level of presidential contacts, that this package…accompanied by the total disconnection from the financial-economic systems controlled by the West would be tantamount to the severing of relations,” Lavrov said.
Western governments have also called on Russia to pull back its troops from the border regions and from Belarus, a move Moscow has rejected saying it can place soldiers anywhere it wants on its own territory.
Meanwhile, in Minsk, strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka on January 28 denied that he would send Belarusian citizens to fight against another nation.
“I never said anywhere and I won’t say that I will send [Belarusians] to another country’s territory [to wage war] against another people,” he said in a state-of-the-nation address.
Several rounds of diplomacy held in European cities this month between the West and Moscow have failed to reach a breakthrough, although the sides have shown a willingness to continue talks.
French President Emmanuel Macron is due to hold a phone call with Putin on January 28 in which he is expected to seek clarification over Russia’s intentions.
Macron will try to assess whether Russian President Vladimir Putin wants “consultations or confrontation” over Ukraine, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said ahead of the call.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on January 27 that the U.S. response showed no “willingness” to accommodate Russia’s concerns and left “little ground for optimism.”
But he added that “there always are prospects for continuing a dialogue, it’s in the interests of both us and the Americans.”
U.S. President Joe Biden held a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on January 27 to again reaffirm the readiness of the United States along with its allies to “respond decisively” if Russia further invades Ukraine.
Biden also told Zelenskiy the United States was exploring additional macroeconomic support to help Ukraine’s financial situation, which has been battered by concerns over an outbreak of war, the White House said.
“Had a long phone conversation with POTUS,” Zelenskiy tweeted. “Discussed recent diplomatic efforts on de-escalation and agreed on joint actions for the future. Thanked President Joe Biden for the ongoing military assistance. Possibilities for financial support to Ukraine were also discussed.”
In another development, the United States has called for a public meeting of the UN Security Council on January 31 to discuss Russia’s military buildup as “a matter of crucial importance to international peace and security.”
“More than 100,000 Russian troops are deployed on the Ukrainian border and Russia is engaging in other destabilizing acts aimed at Ukraine, posing a clear threat to international peace and security and the UN Charter,” U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement on January 27.
NATO this week said it was bolstering its deterrence in the Baltic Sea and Eastern European region, and the United States has ordered 8,500 troops on high alert for potential deployment to Europe to reassure NATO allies on the eastern flank.
Meanwhile, the United States and several of its NATO allies have been sending military supplies and weaponry to Ukraine, including anti-tank missiles, to help Kyiv blunt any Russian incursion.
Moscow has been backing separatist fighters in an ongoing war in eastern Ukraine that has claimed more than 13,200 lives since 2014, the same year Russian illegally annexed Crimea.
After meeting in Paris on January 27, advisers to the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany reaffirmed in a joint statement their commitment to uphold a cease-fire agreed in the Minsk accords aimed at putting an end to the conflict in the east.
Although there was no breakthrough in the talks, held under the so-called Normandy format, the countries promised to meet for new talks in two weeks in Berlin.
