Russia has said it will not back down from US sanctions over tensions in Ukraine, setting the tone for a major telephone conversation between the two countries’ foreign ministers today.
“Washington, not Moscow, is fueling the tensions. We will not back down and we will not pay attention to the threats of US sanctions,” the Russian embassy in Washington said in a statement on its Facebook page.
This was the reaction of the Russian embassy in the USA to a message of the American diplomacy on Twitter in which Moscow was accused of “invading” Ukraine in 2014 and annexing the Crimean peninsula.
These statements are part of a context of escalating tensions around Ukraine.
Russia has been accused by Westerners of gathering tens of thousands of troops on its border with neighboring Ukraine in anticipation of a possible invasion.
Moscow denies any military intentions, but sets out a list of demands it deems necessary for any de-escalation, which it deems necessary in order to guarantee its security, especially the assurance that Ukraine will never join NATO.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is expected to hold a telephone conversation today with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the continuation of this crisis, while the talks that have taken place so far have shown the gap that separates the two sides.
In the eastern part of Ukraine, a conflict has been raging since 2014 between Kiev forces and pro-Russian separatists backed by Moscow.
However, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grusko today denied reports that Moscow had given the US a written response to Washington’s counter-proposals for security guarantees requested by Russia, the RIA news agency reported.
The RIA quoted a diplomatic source as saying that the answer was still being prepared.
A State Department spokesman said Monday that the United States had received a written response from Russia.
Washington and Brussels last week responded to Moscow’s demands for legally binding security guarantees amid controversy over Ukraine’s plans to join NATO.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that the United States had not responded to Moscow’s main security demands, but that Russia was ready to resume talks.
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