US to present Russia ideas next week, pursue Ukraine talks – Blinken

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday the United States will share written ideas with Russia next week, as he voiced hope for more diplomacy on the Ukraine crisis following talks in Geneva.

While making clear that progress would be limited so long as Russian troops remained massed on Ukraine’s border, Blinken said he planned to meet again with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and did not rule out a summit between presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin.

“We didn’t expect any major breakthroughs to happen today, but I believe we are now on a clear path in terms of understanding each other’s concerns and each other’s positions,” Blinken told reporters after meeting for nearly two hours with Lavrov.

He called the conversation “frank and substantive”, saying that “by and large, the conversation was not polemical”.

“This was not a negotiation, but a candid exchange of concerns and ideas,” he said.

Blinken confirmed that the US will present a written paper to Russia next week.

But he did not describe it as a direct response to sweeping security proposals put forward last month by Moscow, saying Washington would raise its own issues.

“We anticipate that we will be able to share with Russia our concerns and ideas in more detail in writing next week and we agreed to further discussions after that,” Blinken said.

– New Biden-Putin summit? –

Biden, who met Putin in Geneva last year and has twice warned him by telephone about Ukraine, was also willing to meet his counterpart again, Blinken said.

“If we conclude (and) the Russians conclude that the best way to resolve things is through a further conversation between them, we’re certainly prepared to do that,” Blinken said.

Moscow’s proposals, submitted last month after Russia amassed troops, included a guarantee that Ukraine will never join NATO.

Blinken said he told Lavrov directly that the US objected to any effort “that would impede the sovereign right of the Ukrainian people to write their own future”.

He also called on Lavrov to prove his statement that Russia does not plan to invade Ukraine.

“If Russia wants to begin to convince the world that it has no aggressive intent toward Ukraine, a very good place to start would be by de-escalating, by bringing back — removing — those forces on Ukraine’s border,” Blinken said.

Blinken reiterated that the US and its allies would impose a “swift, severe and united response to any form of aggression” by Russia.

After Biden raised eyebrows on Wednesday by speaking of a different response to a “minor incursion”, Blinken said he told Lavrov that the US would also take action for less visible attacks.

“We also know from experience that Russia has an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks, paramilitary tactics and other means of advancing their interests aggressively without overtly using military action,” Blinken said.

“Those types of Russian aggression will also be met with a decisive calibrated — and, again, united — response.”