(Washington) The United States has received a new written response from Russia to its own letter on the Ukraine crisis, which threatens to spark a new conflict in Europe, a US official said Monday on the eve of an exchange between the two rival powers.
Posted at 6:36 p.m.
Updated at 9:50 p.m.
“We can confirm that we have received a written response from Russia,” said a spokesperson for American diplomacy, without wanting to specify the content.
“We believe it would not be productive to negotiate in public, so we will leave it up to Russia to talk about its response if it wishes,” he added. “We remain fully committed to dialogue to resolve these issues and will continue to consult closely with our allies and partners, including Ukraine. »
This new letter exchange comes on the eve of a phone call between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who are to speak to each other on Tuesday.
The Russian missive is in fact a response to the response: the United States delivered its own letter to Russia last week, in response to the treaty proposals formulated in mid-December by Moscow to present its security requirements.
Westerners accuse the Russians of having massed more than 100,000 soldiers on the Ukrainian border for a possible invasion.
The Kremlin assures that it does not intend to attack, but calls for formal security “guarantees”, including in particular the legal assurance that Ukraine will never enter NATO, and the return to military deployments of the Atlantic Alliance at its gates as they were in 1997.
The United States and NATO rejected these key demands in letters last Wednesday, but Washington left the door open to negotiations on other topics, such as the deployment of missiles or reciprocal limits on military exercises.
Antony Blinken and Sergei Lavrov are due to discuss these exchanges on Tuesday.
US government employees urged to leave Belarus
The United States also ordered on Monday the families of American government employees stationed in Belarus to leave this country, very close to Moscow, because of tensions with Russia around Ukraine.
The State Department, which initiated this measure, also advised American nationals not to travel to Belarus due, in particular, to “the risk of detention and the unusual and worrying Russian military presence along the border. of Belarus with Ukraine”.
“The situation is unpredictable and tensions are heightened in the region,” adds American diplomacy.
Washington had already requested on January 23 the departure of the families of American diplomats in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, “because of the persistent threat of a Russian military operation”. Local staff and non-essential staff could also leave the embassy in Ukraine if they wished.
Westerners are deeply concerned about a massive deployment of troops on the borders with Ukraine by Russia, which is asking for assurances that Kiev will not join NATO.
On Monday, during a vehement exchange between Washington and Moscow on this file at the UN Security Council, the United States accused Russia of wanting to deploy moreover “by the beginning of February more than 30,000 soldiers” in Belarus, north of Ukraine.
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, and his counterpart from Belarus, Valentin Rybakov, stressed that these were “joint military exercises” to be held in February. “We have regular training with Belarus” as on Russian territory, argued the Russian ambassador to the media.
On Tuesday, January 25, American diplomacy warned Belarus that it risked a “rapid” and “firm” response if it allowed Russia to use its territory to attack Ukraine.