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Path of diplomacy still open to resolve Ukraine crisis: US

WION Web Team
New DelhiUpdated: Feb 13, 2022, 07:48 PM IST
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(File photo) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Photograph:(AFP)

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Tensions are high between Russia and the West over the Ukraine crisis. Threat of Russian invasion into Ukraine is perceived to be very high

The United States said on Sunday that path of diplomacy is still open to resolve Ukraine Crisis. However, it underlined that the risk of Russian invasion was high enough. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was speaking in Hawaii after talks with Japanese and South Korean counterparts.  

Russia continues to maintain troop presence of more than 100,000 soldiers near Ukraine. It has also increased its naval movements in the Black Sea. Russia denies plans of invading Ukraine but statements from within the Russian camp are taken to be attempts at creating a pretext for invasion.

Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday but a German source said Berlin did not expect "concrete results" from those talks.

Scholz would make clear the West was united and any aggression would prompt "painful, considerable sanctions" on Russia, the source said.

"The diplomatic path remains open. The way for Moscow to show that it wants to pursue that path is simple. It should de-escalate, rather than escalate," Blinken said after his meetings in the US Pacific archipelago of Hawaii.

In an hour-long call on Saturday, US President Joe Biden told Putin that the West would respond decisively to any invasion of Ukraine, adding such a step would produce widespread suffering and isolate Moscow.

A senior Biden administration official said the call was substantive but that there was no fundamental change.

The Kremlin said Putin told Biden that Washington had failed to take Russia's main concerns into account and it had received no "substantial answer" on key elements of its security demands.

Putin wants guarantees from the United States and NATO that include blocking Ukraine's entry into NATO, refraining from missile deployments near Russia's borders and scaling back NATO's military infrastructure in Europe to 1997 levels.

Washington regards many of the proposals as non-starters but has pushed the Kremlin to discuss them jointly with Washington and its European allies.

(With inputs from agencies)