A "reasonable dialogue" necessary on the Ukrainian crisis according to Sergei Lavrov

Antony Blinken and Sergei Lavrov before their discussions this Friday morning (January 21, 2021) in Geneva on the Ukrainian file.

REUTERS - POOL

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The meeting lasted two hours on Friday morning.

Antony Blinken and Sergei, heads of American and Russian diplomacy worked to overcome the Ukrainian crisis in a palace in Geneva.

It is the last pas de deux of an intense diplomatic ballet which began with two conversations between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden in December. 

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The United States has promised a written response "next week" to Russian demands for NATO withdrawal from Eastern Europe, said the head of Russian diplomacy after "frank" talks in Geneva with his American counterpart on the crisis in Ukraine.

After two hours of discussions, Antony Blinken and Sergey Lavrov separately held a press briefing.

"We agreed that we will present written responses next week to our proposals," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, stressing that he and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken "agreed that 'reasonable dialogue is necessary' for 'the emotion to subside'.

The two diplomats reported having agreed to "a new contact at (their) level".

A summit of the two presidents being at this stage premature. 

This meeting between Sergei Lavrov and Antony Blinken is the last stage at this stage of an intense diplomatic ballet which began with two conversations between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden in December.

For Washington, the prospect of a Russian military incursion into Ukraine is increasingly likely because for weeks, tens of thousands of soldiers have been deployed on the Ukrainian border.

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To read also

: new decisive meeting between Blinken and Lavrov in Geneva on the Ukrainian crisis

 The Kremlin denies any warmongering, but conditions a de-escalation on treaties guaranteeing the non-enlargement of NATO, and a de facto retreat from the Alliance in Eastern Europe.

Unacceptable, say Westerners.

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  • Ukraine

  • Russia

  • United States

  • Sergei Lavrov