Even before the talks between the Russian and American negotiators in Geneva on Monday, there had been warnings from Washington: Statements made by Russia after the meeting very likely did not reflect the actual nature of the talks.

But when Wendy Sherman and Sergei Ryabkov, the American Deputy Secretary of State and the Deputy Russian Foreign Minister, gave information separately to journalists on Monday evening, they seemed to agree on the tenor.

The conversations were “open and sincere”, said Sherman, and Ryabkov called them “difficult” and “very professional” - “without trying to gloss over sharp edges”.

Sofia Dreisbach

Editor in politics.

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In detail, however, the statements of the two negotiators diverged.

Sherman then emphasized that this first meeting was not about negotiations - but a conversation "for better mutual understanding", an attempt to make the respective positions clear in a personal conversation.

Of course, Russia had submitted the paper in mid-December, which it saw as the basis for discussion at the Geneva meeting: the draft treaties under which Washington and NATO were to undertake comprehensive security guarantees vis-à-vis Russia;

such as the renunciation of any expansion of the defense alliance and any military activity of NATO in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

"Bring the soldiers back to the barracks"

According to Sherman, the Russian side was referring to it, but Washington had voiced its concerns. Above all, that is likely to be the deployment of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border. Ryabkov, he said after the talks, had given assurances that Russia was not planning an attack on Ukraine. "There is no reason to fear an escalation scenario in this regard," he said. In relation to cards that appeared in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, among other things, he spoke of “misinformation” from the West, which was intended to sow “discord and uncertainty in Ukrainian society”.

According to Sherman, Ryabkov again spoke of a Russian maneuver in relation to the troop concentrations. After the talks, she said that a maneuver “with more than 100,000 soldiers” would be “interesting”, especially on the Ukrainian border. You have asked Russia: "Bring the soldiers back to the barracks." Otherwise Moscow would have to make more information public about what kind of maneuver it was - that was also part of the better, more open relationship. The American side has also made it clear that it is ready for talks on conflict issues such as the limitation of maneuvers or the stationing of missiles.

Ryabkov, on the other hand, spoke of Russia's demands on the West in the statement as if they had been treated on an equal footing by the interlocutors. "We had the impression that the American side took the Russian proposals very seriously and examined them in detail," said the deputy minister. Observers suspect that the overly peaceful tone on the Russian side could be aimed primarily at creating uncertainty on the part of Ukraine ahead of the meeting of the NATO-Russia Council on Wednesday as to whether Russia and America are getting closer.

After more than seven hours of talks, Sherman once again made it clear that neither Ukraine nor NATO would be left out in the negotiations with Russia.

Tomorrow morning, according to the Deputy Foreign Minister, she will leave for Brussels and meet NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg there.

"This week Russia will hear a unified message from the United States and our allies and partners that it is up to Russia to de-escalate tensions so that we have a real chance of finding diplomatic solutions."