(Moscow) Russia ruled out any “concessions” on Sunday in high-stakes talks with the United States in Geneva on Ukraine and security in Europe, further saying it was “disappointed” by the “signals” sent by Washington .
“We will not accept any concessions. This is completely excluded, ”Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov, who is due to take part in the negotiations, told Russian news agencies.
“We are disappointed with the signals coming in recent days from Washington, but also from Brussels,” he added.
Subsequently, Riabkov said that in the absence of progress at the first meeting on Monday, Russia may decide not to continue negotiations.
“It’s a very possible scenario […] If we go around in circles, if we don’t see that the other side is ready to take our priorities into account, to react constructively, then dialogue will be useless, ”he said.
PHOTO MAXIM SHEMETOV, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov
Representatives of Russia and the United States will meet in Geneva on Sunday evening before a crucial meeting the next day on Ukraine and security in Europe, amid heightened tensions.
Russia is accused by the West of having massed tens of thousands of soldiers on the border of neighboring Ukraine in anticipation of a possible invasion, which Moscow denies.
The talks scheduled for Geneva were held after Russia submitted demands to “guarantee its security.” At the top of its demands is a NATO “legal” commitment not to integrate Ukraine and the withdrawal of American soldiers from the most eastern countries of the Atlantic Alliance.
These demands have been described as “unacceptable” by several Western officials.
Last month, US President Joe Biden threatened his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin with sanctions “like he’s never seen before” if Moscow attacks Ukraine.
“It is very likely that we will encounter the reluctance of our American and NATO colleagues to actually perceive what we need,” Riabkov said on Sunday.
Despite “the threats that are constantly formulated against us […] we will not make any concessions ”, he continued, adding that this would amount to“ acting against our own interests, against the interests of our security ”.
Eastern Ukraine has been torn apart since 2014 by a conflict between Kiev’s forces and pro-Russian separatists that erupted after Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula.