STOCKHOLM: Momentum was erecting on Thursday for direct addresses between US President Joe Biden and Russian leader Vladimir Putin as both sides sought to avoid an “ agony” battle over Ukraine.
The Russian and US foreign ministers came face to face in Sweden to bandy recent allegations raised by Kiev and its Western abettors that Russia could forayex-Soviet Ukraine this downtime.
Western powers have been sounding the alarm for weeks about Russia gathering colors along the border with Ukraine, further supersizing pressures in an area where a long-running conflict has formerly left dead.
Moscow, which seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and tails secessionists fighting Kiev, has explosively denied its conniving an attack and blames Nato for fuelling pressures.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday called for “long-term security guarantees” on his country’s borders to halt Nato’s eastward expansion after meeting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
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As Lavrov advised that the “ agony script of a military battle was returning” in Europe, Blinken said it was “ probably the chairpersons will speak directly in the near future”.
Russia also said that it hopes for “ contact” between Putin and Biden in the coming days.
“ The date has not yet been agreed. There are difficulties in aligning the timetables of the two leaders, but contact is veritably necessary, our problems are multiplying,” said Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
“ There’s no movement on bilateral affairs, which are more and more reaching an acute extremity phase. There’s no collective understanding about how to lessen the situation in Europe,” he was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
“ The situation in Europe is veritably intimidating,” he added.
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“ It’s clear that this will be one of the main motifs of discussion at the presidential position.”
Attending a meeting in Stockholm of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Lavrov indicted Nato of inching its military structure closer to Russia’s borders.
Blinken said the US had “ deep enterprises about Russia’s plans for renewed aggression against Ukraine,” and advised Moscow of “ serious consequences” if Russia “ decides to pursue battle”.
But the top US diplomat also struck a pacific note, saying the US was ready to “ grease” the “ full perpetration” of the Minsk peace accords.
The Minsk deal was reached after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and aimed at resolving the conflict with Russian secessionists in eastern Ukraine but was noway executed.
“ The stylish way to forestall an extremity is through tactfulness,” Blinken said.
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