Top diplomats from the United States and Russia were meeting on Friday for critical talks as a weekslong standoff over Ukraine left the country’s future in peril amid mounting fears of a Russian invasion.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were meeting early Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, the culmination of a fresh diplomatic scramble across Europe in a bid to avert a potentially devastating new conflict.
Washington has voiced growing concerns that a Russian invasion could be imminent. The Kremlin has massed more than 100,000 troops on its neighbor’s doorstep for weeks, but repeatedly denied planning to invade.
Previous talks have achieved little progress, with the U.S. and its NATO allies dismissing demands from Moscow about the Western alliance’s relationship with Ukraine and other former Soviet states.
Both sides dampened hopes for progress on Friday.
“We don’t expect to resolve our differences here today. But I do hope and expect that we can test whether the path of diplomacy or dialogue remains open,” Blinken told Lavrov. “This is a critical moment.”
Lavrov, meanwhile, said he did not “expect a breakthrough at these negotiations either. What we expect is concrete answers to our concrete proposals.”
The U.S. and its European allies have sought to present a united front, warning of “severe” consequences including harsh economic sanctions.
“We have been very clear throughout if any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border and commit new acts of aggression against Ukraine that will be met with a swift severe united response from the United States and our allies and partners,” Blinken told reporters Thursday.
His comments came after President Joe Biden predicted that Russian President Vladimir Putin would invade. “My guess is he will move in, he has to do something.”
Biden came under fire for making a distinction between a “minor incursion” and a full-blown attack, suggesting there were divisions within the transatlantic alliance over how to react to a smaller-scale Russian operation.
“It depends on what it does. It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do,” the president said at a news conference Wednesday to mark a year in office.
Biden’s comments drew quick criticism from Washington to Kyiv, with some accusing the president of giving Russia the go-ahead to launch an attack.
He sought to clarify his comments on Thursday, saying that any Russian troop movement into Ukraine would be seen as an invasion.
Biden said that if Russia does launch an invasion, it would be “the most consequential thing that has happened in the world since World War II.”
After meeting with Ukraine’s president in Kyiv and top diplomats from Britain, France and Germany in Berlin this week, Blinken faces Lavrov in a meeting that is shaping up as a possible last-ditch effort at dialogue.
He repeated the West’s warnings Friday, saying the U.S. and its allies were committed to diplomacy, but were also committed, “if that proves impossible, and Russia decides to pursue aggression against Ukraine, to a united, swift and severe response.”
Abigail Williams , Dan De Luce, Tatyana Chistikova and Associated Press contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
