(Stockholm) The American and Russian foreign ministers had a tense face-to-face meeting in Sweden on Thursday, exchanging warnings and threats about Ukraine while ensuring that they wanted to resolve the crisis through diplomacy.
“We are deeply concerned about Russia’s plans for a new aggression against Ukraine,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken alongside his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, echoing his accusations of the day before when ‘he had referred for the first time to “evidence” of such invasion preparations.
“If Russia decides to continue on the path of confrontation, it will suffer serious consequences,” he warned, after threatening painful sanctions on Wednesday.
Antony Blinken, however, also pretended to extend a hand, saying he was ready to “facilitate” the implementation of the Minsk agreements, concluded after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 to settle the conflict in the eastern part of the country. Ukraine between the Kiev forces and the pro-Russian separatists, but which were never really applied.
After listing the clauses of these agreements that Moscow did not, in his eyes, not respect, the American added: “the best way to prevent a crisis is diplomacy”.
“Nightmare scenario”
At the podium of the ministerial meeting of the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OCSE) which, coincidentally, brings together the two rival powers on Thursday as well as Ukraine in the suburbs of Stockholm, Antony Blinken had previously called the Russia to “de-escalate” and withdraw the troops recently amassed, according to the West, at the Ukrainian border.
“The nightmare scenario of military confrontation” is making its comeback in Europe, warned Sergey Lavrov, who accused NATO of “bringing its military infrastructure closer to Russian borders”.
The Russian minister was once again opposed to any further enlargement of the Atlantic Alliance towards Eastern Europe – and therefore to Ukraine -, but he also said he wanted to give dialogue a chance.
“We are interested in joint efforts for the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis,” he pleaded. “We are ready for it. ”
Despite a cordial tone, the meeting took place in an explosive atmosphere.
At a NATO meeting in Riga on Wednesday, Antony Blinken accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “building the capacity” to “quickly” invade Ukraine if he decided to take action. And threatened to retaliate with “a series of high impact economic measures” that Washington “refrained from using in the past” against Russia.
“Dissuasive measures”
On Thursday, the Secretary of State also met in the Swedish capital his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kouleba, who reiterated his demand for a “deterrent package” for President Putin “to think twice before resorting to force. military ”.
Kiev and its Western allies have sounded the alarm since November concerning a further reinforcement of Russian troops on the borders of Ukraine and a possible winter invasion.
Moscow, which has captured Crimea and is accused of supporting the separatists, has denied planning an attack. The Kremlin again affirmed Thursday that the will displayed by the Ukrainian authorities to recover Crimea was “a direct threat addressed to Russia”.
These tensions continued on the ground during diplomatic meetings.
A Ukrainian soldier was killed on the front line in scuffles with pro-Russian separatists, according to the army, while Moscow claimed to have arrested three Ukrainian spies, one of whom is accused of preparing an “attack” in the explosive.
Long planned, the OSCE meeting “comes at a crucial time”, noted the United States ambassador to the organization Michael Carpenter, with the increase in tensions on the steps of Europe.
Besides Ukraine, recent weeks have been marked by the migrant crisis at the borders of Belarus and the European Union and by a brief resurgence of clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan – all OSCE members .
The EU reached an agreement on Wednesday for further sanctions against Belarus, and the US is expected to follow “very soon”, according to the US State Department.