US urges Russia to pull back troops from Ukraine border as tension rises
The US has told Russia it will face “serious consequences” if it decides to pursue confrontation with Ukraine, amid growing fears among western nations that Russia is planning to invade its former Soviet neighbour.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered the warning to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a meeting on Thursday to discuss the conflict that has been destabilising Ukraine since 2014.
After a formal handshake, the pair sat down in front of reporters for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s summit in Stockholm, Sweden.
In their private talks, Mr Blinken said the US was prepared to “impose significant costs” if Moscow chose the path of military escalation, the White House said.
He told Moscow to pull back its forces to a “peacetime posture” after a troop build-up that Nato described as unexplained.
Mr Lavrov suggested the Kremlin was ready to settle the crisis and said Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his interest in avoiding a conflict with the Ukrainians.
The Russian minister told Mr Blinken that he wanted to hear what Washington thought Moscow should do to introduce a peace deal in eastern Ukraine.
He appeared keen to start the discussions without first speaking to reporters, but Mr Blinken suggested they both say a few words beforehand.
Mr Blinken said the crisis was at a “critical moment” and the US harboured “deep concerns about Russia’s plan for renewed aggression against Ukraine”.
“We have a strong, ironclad commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The best way to avert a crisis is through diplomacy,” he said.
“And that’s what I look forward to discussing with Sergey, including by both parties, full implementation of the Minsk agreements with Russia pulling back its forces.
“The United States is willing to facilitate that. But and again, in the spirit of being clear and candid, which is the best thing to do, if Russia decides to pursue confrontation, there will be serious consequences.”
The Minsk accords were brokered in 2015 and offered a framework for resolving the conflict.
The US separately moved on Thursday to tighten sanctions on Russia’s ally, Belarus, aiming at 20 people and 12 entities in the country amid a migrant crisis allegedly engineered by the ex-Soviet country.
In his talks with Russia, Mr Blinken also touched on the continuing negotiations between western countries and Iran that are aimed at salvaging a nuclear deal, saying Russia and the US have a “shared interest in Iran not acquiring a nuclear weapon”.
He welcomed the resumption of talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet states, to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
He hopes the US and Russia can “work on that together as well”, Mr Blinken said.
Mr Lavrov said any further moves by the US and its Nato allies would constitute a threat to Russia. He said the “nightmare scenario of a military confrontation was returning” in Europe and accused Nato of bringing military infrastructure closer to Russian borders.
He urged the West to consider “relevant proposals” Moscow would present soon to prevent the military alliance’s expansion to the east.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine’s admission into Nato would be a “red line” for Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov echoed Mr Lavrov by suggesting it was Ukraine taking “provocative action” on the border. “The probability of hostilities in Ukraine still remains high,” he said.
He objected to a comment by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Kiev’s aim was to liberate Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
“We see this as a direct threat to Russia,” Mr Peskov said.
Mr Blinken said the crisis was at a ‘critical moment’ and the US had ‘deep concerns’ about Russia’s plan