Moscow cancels US meet over sanctions

‘NATO drills raise concern’

WASHINGTON, June 22, (Agencies): Russia has canceled a meeting with senior US diplomats in the wake of Washington’s decision to reinforce sanctions imposed over its interference in Ukraine and occupation of Crimea.

US Under Secretary of State Tom Shannon had been due in St Petersburg on Friday to mend diplomatic fences with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

But relations between Moscow and Washington are at a low even by the standards of a rivalry that goes back to the Cold War, and Washington’s decision to ramp up its sanctions regime provoked the anger of President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin.

Shannon had hoped to address “irritants” in the relationship, such as tension over Moscow’s intimidation of US diplomats and the US seizure of two Russian diplomatic compounds near Washington and New York.

But even this minor first step towards finding enough common ground to allow the rival nuclear powers to begin to address more fundamental issues -- such as Russia’s intervention in Ukraine -- has now fallen apart.

“We regret that Russia has decided to turn away from an opportunity to discuss bilateral obstacles that hinder US-Russia relations,” spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

On Tuesday, the United States added 38 individuals and entities to its sanctions list targeting the Russians and pro-Russian rebels it blames for the fighting in Ukraine.

Putin

Triggered

This appears to have been what triggered Moscow’s decision to cancel the meeting, although US President Donald Trump also met Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday.

But the State Department insisted that the sanctions were not being expanded, merely “maintained,” by adding new targets as Moscow finds ways around the previous embargo.

And Washington insisted the punitive measures would stay in place until Russia honors the Minsk agreement to disengage from eastern Ukraine and returns the annexed Crimea region to Kiev.

“We have regularly updated these sanctions twice a year since they were first imposed,” Nauert explained. “Let’s remember that these sanctions didn’t just come out of nowhere.

“Our targeted sanctions were imposed in response to Russia’s ongoing violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbor, Ukraine,” she said.

Russia’s foreign ministry said that, given the new sanctions, it was “not the moment” to hold the Shannon-Ryabkov talks, which Washington had announced on Tuesday.

And, asked whether the meeting could be rescheduled, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “I have no confirmation that these consultations will take place.”

Separately, Ryabkov himself, in a foreign ministry statement, threatened that Moscow would take retaliatory measures.

“This measure will not remain without a reaction -- there will be measures in response on our behalf,” he warned.

“We regret that once again the American authorities have allowed themselves to be guided by the frenzied Russophobes in Congress, who will stop at nothing to cause us trouble, and especially to reduce to zero any chance of an improvement in Russian-American ties,” he alleged.

Meanwhile, Russia’s defense minister said on Wednesday the security situation near the nation’s borders has worsened because of NATO’s activities.

Sergei Shoigu, speaking on a trip to Russia’s westernmost Kaliningrad region, pointed at the alliance’s exercise in the Baltics as an example of NATO’s growing presence in the area.

Shoigu added that the large-scale drills reflect NATO’s “anti-Russian course.”

He said the military will form 20 new units along its western frontiers by the year’s end. Later this year, Russia and Belarus will hold the West-2017 war games. Russian state TV showed footage of a NATO F-16 fighter jet shadowing Shoigu’s plane as it was approaching Kaliningrad. A Russian Su-27 fighter then edged in between the minister’s plane and the NATO jet to ward it off.

Later on Wednesday, Russia news agencies reported that several NATO fighter jets were escorting Shoigu’s plane over the Baltic Sea as he was returning from Kaliningrad to Moscow but did not try to get close to it.

Carrying

In related news, a NATO F-16 fighter jet buzzed a plane carrying Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as it flew over the Baltic Sea, but was seen off by a Russian Sukhoi-27 military jet, Russia said on Wednesday, an account partly disputed by NATO.

The Baltic Sea has become an area of rising tensions between Moscow and the Western military alliance. Earlier this month, Russia scrambled a fighter jet to intercept a nuclear-capable US B-52 strategic bomber it said was flying over the Baltic, in an incident that had echoes of the Cold War.

A video of Wednesday’s incident broadcast on a TV channel run by the Russian Ministry of Defence showed an F-16 flying parallel with the minister’s plane at a short distance. It was not clear which air force the F-16 belonged to.

A Russian Sukhoi-27 fighter jet was then seen inserting itself between the F-16 and the minister’s plane before tilting its wings from side to side to show the missiles it is carrying. The F-16 was then seen leaving the area.

NATO said it had tracked three Russian aircraft over the Baltic on Wednesday, including two fighter jets which it said did not respond to air traffic control or requests to identify themselves.

“As is standard practice whenever unknown aircraft approach NATO air space, NATO and national air forces took to the sky to monitor these flights,” a NATO official said.

“When NATO aircraft intercept a plane they identify it visually, maintaining a safe distance at all times. Once complete, NATO jets break away,” the official said.

The alliance said it had no information about who was on board the planes.

Shoigu’s plane had been en route to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad for a meeting to discuss how well Russia’s western flank was defended. Footage of what happened was filmed by someone on Shoigu’s plane.