Talks in Geneva: USA dampen expectations
Russia – Before bilateral negotiations with Moscow this Monday in Geneva, the US side dampened expectations and warned of Russian disinformation. “There will be no firm commitments in these talks, but they will have to be serious and concrete,” said a US government official on Saturday in a phone call with journalists. All issues would then be examined in Washington and discussed with allies during the week. The government official said he would not be surprised if the Russian side spread false reports about US concessions in order to “divide the allies.”
The meeting takes place against the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis. The US government official said the delegations would likely meet for a preliminary talk on Sunday evening after arriving in Geneva. The actual talks between the USA and Russia in the Swiss city would take place on Monday. The US delegation is led by Vice Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. A meeting of the NATO-Russia Council is also scheduled in Brussels on January 12th – the first in two and a half years. Thereafter there will be talks in Vienna on January 13th within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
For weeks the US has been accusing of building troops in Russia on the border with Ukraine. It is feared that Russian soldiers could invade the ex-Soviet republic. Russia denies such plans. Russia, for its part, is resisting the admission of further Eastern European countries to NATO and is demanding a guarantee that Ukraine will never BECOME a member of the alliance.
The US government official said it was not up to Moscow to decide which countries other states would enter into alliances with. “In connection with NATO, we call this an open door, and neither Russia nor any other country will die.” However, progress on issues such as maneuvers or the stationing of offensive missile systems is conceivable in the bilateral negotiations. The government representative again warned Moscow of a single escalation in the Ukraine crisis. He said the move would include financial, financial and US armament in Ukraine.