US senators introduced a bill to punish Russia if it invaded Ukraine, while Moscow threatened to use the military option if political means were not enough to ensure its security.

On Wednesday, members of the US Senate introduced a bill aimed at imposing sanctions on Russia in the event of its invasion of Ukraine.

The bill is called the "Ukraine Sovereignty Defense Act" and was submitted by 26 Democratic senators, including Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin, Cory Booker, Amy Clapuchar, Richard Plamenthal and Bob Menendez.

The bill aims to punish the Russian banking sector, high-ranking government officials and the military if Moscow escalates hostilities in or against Ukraine.

"The bill makes it unequivocally clear that the US Senate will not stand idly by while the Kremlin threatens to re-invade Ukraine," Menendez said.

For his part, Russia's ambassador to Washington, Yuri Antonov, said that the bill was provocative and sterile, and said that it was behind the lawmakers' demands to punish Russia painfully "an attempt to influence us against the background of the ongoing negotiations on European security."

He indicated that Moscow is awaiting a detailed written response from Washington and its allies to its proposals on European security.

Recently, Western countries accused Russia of massing troops near the Ukrainian border, and Washington threatened to impose sanctions on Russia if it launched an attack on Ukraine.

View from NATO

On Wednesday, NATO said it was ready to hold talks with Russia on arms control and missile deployment to avoid the risk of war in Europe, but Moscow said the situation was "very dangerous" and the way forward was not clear.

After four hours of talks in Brussels, the chasm between the positions of Russia, the United States and its allies appeared deep.

This is the second attempt this week to defuse a crisis sparked by the build-up of Russian forces near Ukraine.


NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was ready to hold arms talks but would not allow Moscow to stand in the way of Ukraine's ambition to join the alliance one day, a key demand Russia says it will not give up.

"There is a real danger of a new armed conflict in Europe," he added.

Moscow denies it intends to invade Ukraine but says it needs a series of guarantees for its security, including a halt to any further NATO expansion and the withdrawal of coalition forces from the Central and Eastern European countries that joined it after 1997.

Wendy Sherman, US Deputy Secretary of State, confirmed that those demands are impossible.

Military option

The Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that NATO's disregard for Russia's security proposals creates the conditions for "accidents and conflicts."

As for Alexander Grushko, Deputy Russian Foreign Minister, he said that Moscow will resort to military solutions to neutralize threats to its security if political means are not sufficient to achieve this.

The Russian news agency quoted him as saying that during the talks, Moscow reviewed possible countermeasures that it could take in the event of the failure of the political track.

Grushko added that the situation is very dangerous, but it is not yet clear how to overcome the obstacles between the two sides to make progress.