Russia and the United States gave no sign of narrowing their differences on Ukraine and wider European security in talks in Geneva on Monday, as Moscow repeated demands that Washington says it can't accept.
Russia has massed troops near Ukraine's border and demanded the U.S.-led NATO alliance not admitting the former Soviet state or expanding further into what Moscow sees as its back yard.
We have a great disparity in our principled approaches to this. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told a news conference that Russia and the U.S. have different views on what needs to be done.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said in a separate telephone briefing after nearly eight hours of talks with Ryabkov that we were firm in pushing back on security proposals that are simply nonstarters to the United States.
Sherman also hinted at the possibility of mutual compromises, saying Washington was open to discussing missile deployments in Europe as well as limiting the size and scope of military exercises.
In eight years after Russia seized the Crimean peninsula from its neighbor, Washington and Kyiv said 100,000 Russian troops moved to within striking distance of Ukraine could be preparing a new invasion.
Russia denies any such plans and says it is responding to aggressive behavior from NATO and Ukraine, which has tilted toward the West and aspires to join the alliance.
Ryabkov made sweeping demands, including a ban on further NATO expansion and an end to its activities in the central and eastern European countries that joined after 1997.
He said that it is absolutely necessary for us to make sure that Ukraine never becomes a member of NATO. We do not trust the other side. We need legally binding, waterproof, iron-clad, and bulletproof guarantees. He said that assurances, not safeguards, must be put in place, never becoming a member of NATO. It is a matter of national security for Russia.
Sherman told reporters that the United States won't make any decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine, NATO without Europe, or NATO without NATO. The build-up of troops near Ukraine has raised U.S.-Russian tensions to their highest level since the end of the Cold War.
Both sides said Russia had stated that it did not intend to invade, something Ryabkov said could never happen, but Sherman said she did not know if Russia would return to their barracks.
The Russians complained that the U.S. side did not show an understanding of the urgency of the situation. Russia was not prepared to wait weeks or months if there was no deadline, he said.
Ryabkov said Russia needed to see the movement of NATO and that failure to provide that would be a mistake that would damage NATO's security.
He said that Russia would respond in a military-technical way if talks broke down, a possible reference to redeploying intermediate-range nuclear INF missiles in Europe, which could happen if the West doesn't respond.
Sherman said if Russia walked away from the talks, it would be clear that it was never serious about diplomacy.
She said Washington was open to discussing a possible deal on INF missiles along the lines of the now-defunct INF treaty between the U.S. and Russia and Russia's proposal to set limits on the size and scope of military exercises.
In August 2019 the United States withdrew from the landmark 1987 INF pact with Russia after determining that Moscow was violating the treaty, an accusation that the Kremlin denied.
The treaty has banned land-based missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 km 310 and 3,400 miles Despite the lack of obvious progress, the atmosphere between the two sides appeared cordial.
Sherman called it a frank and forthright discussion, while Ryabkov said it was difficult but professional and that the U.S. had approached the Russian proposals seriously.
He said Russia would decide on the prospects for progress after further meetings with NATO members in Brussels on Wednesday and the OSCE in Vienna on Thursday.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said he did not expect a breakthrough in either meeting, but Washington and Moscow would touch base after them to explore the way forward.