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Russia’s Lavrov urges talks with West amid Ukraine tensions

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As long as the leaders of all parties involved, Russia, NATO, Ukraine and even Belarus, keep talking that is a very good thing, it shows willingness on both sides to come to some kind of an agreement, but it also lets each side present its concerns and desires for a peaceful end to the situation. The statement by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appeared to signal the Kremlin’s intention to stay on a diplomatic path even though the U.S. has warned that Moscow could invade Ukraine at any moment. As reported by the AP:

Speaking at the start of a meeting with Putin, Lavrov suggested that Moscow should maintain a dialogue with the U.S. and its allies

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s top diplomat advised President Vladimir Putin on Monday to continue talks with the West on Russian security demands amid tensions over Ukraine.

The statement by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appeared to signal the Kremlin’s intention to stay on a diplomatic path even though the U.S. has warned that Moscow could invade Ukraine at any moment.

In this handout photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, listens to German chancellor Olaf Scholz while posing for a photo during their meeting at The Mariinskyi Palace in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Ukraine as part of a flurry of Western diplomacy aimed at heading off a feared Russian invasion that some warn could be just days away. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Speaking at the start of a meeting with Putin, Lavrov suggested that Moscow should maintain a dialogue with the U.S. and its allies even though they have rejected Russia’s main security demands.

Moscow wants guarantees from the West that NATO won’t allow Ukraine and other former Soviet countries to join as members, and that the alliance will halt weapons deployments to Ukraine and roll back its forces from Eastern Europe.

Lavrov noted that even though the U.S. and its allies have flatly rejected those demands, Washington has offered to conduct dialogue on limits for missile deployments in Europe, restrictions on military drills and other confidence-building measures.

Putin has yet to formulate Russia’s formal response to those proposals.

FILE In this handout photo released by The State Duma, The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addresses the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022. Lavrov said the U.S. response contained some elements that could lead to “the start of a serious talk on secondary issues,” but emphasized that “the document contains no positive response on the main issue.” Those are Moscow’s demands that NATO not expand and that the alliance refrain from deploying weapons that might threaten Russia. (The State Duma, The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press Service via AP, File)

Asked by Putin if it made sense to continue diplomatic efforts, Lavrov responded that possibilities for talks “are far from being exhausted,” and he proposed to continue the negotiations.

The talks “can’t go on indefinitely, but I would suggest continuing and expand them at this stage,” Lavrov said.

Their meeting came as Germany’s chancellor began a trip to Kyiv and Moscow for a last-ditch attempt to head off a feared Russian invasion of Ukraine that some warn could be only days away.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Ukraine on Monday and plans to continue on to Moscow for talks with Putin. Moscow denies it has any plans to invade but has massed well over 130,000 troops near Ukraine and, in the U.S. view, has built up enough firepower to launch an attack on short notice.

“We are experiencing a very, very serious threat to peace in Europe,” Scholz tweeted from Kyiv, adding that Germany wanted to see “signals of de-escalation” from Moscow.

With concerns rising that war could be imminent, German’s military said the first of some 350 extra troops it is sending to bolster NATO forces in Lithuania were en route Monday. Six howitzer guns were also being loaded onto trucks for transport to the alliance’s eastern flank.

FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a cabinet meeting via a videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022. Putin has described NATO membership for Ukraine and the others as well as the alliance’s weapons deployments there as a red line for Moscow, warning that he would order unspecified “military-technical measures” if the demands aren’t met. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

With the world already on high alert, U.K. Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said a Russian attack could “effectively now happen with no notice.” That follows a warning from U.S. officials that an invasion could come this week — leading to a flurry of diplomacy but also deterrence measures.

Meanwhile, Lithuania moved diplomats’ families and some nonessential diplomatic workers out of Ukraine; the U.S. is already pulling most of its staff from the embassy in Kyiv. And the Greek Foreign Ministry joined several Western nations in urging its citizens to leave the country.

The moves were the latest preparations for a possible war. On Sunday, some airlines canceled flights to Kyiv and troops there unloaded fresh shipments of weapons from NATO members. Ukraine’s air traffic safety agency declared the airspace over the Black Sea to be a “zone of potential danger” because of Russian naval drills and recommended that planes avoid flying over the sea Feb. 14-19.

The U.S. and its NATO allies have repeatedly warned that Russia will pay a high price for any invasion — but they have sometimes struggled to present a united front. Scholz’s government, in particular, has been criticized for refusing to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine or to spell out which sanctions it would support against Russia, raising questions about Berlin’s resolve to stand up to Moscow.

FILE – In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks with U.S. President Joe Biden over the telephone in his office in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. After 2.5 years in office, Zelenskyy is watching his once-enormous support dissolve as Ukraine stands on what many fear is the verge of a Russian invasion that would not only take the rebel regions but possibly the rest of the country. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP, File)

So far, NATO’s warnings appear to have had little effect: Russia has only beefed-up troops and weapons in the region and launched massive drills in its ally Belarus, which also neighbors Ukraine. The West fears that the drills, which will run through Sunday, could be used by Moscow as a cover for an invasion from the north.

Russia has repeatedly brushed off Ukrainian and Western concerns about the military buildup, saying it has the right to deploy forces wherever needed on its territory.

Some observers expect Moscow to eventually accept a compromise that would help avoid hostilities and allow all sides to save face. While NATO refuses to shut the door to Ukraine, the alliance also has no intention of embracing it or any other ex-Soviet nation anytime soon. Some experts have floated ideas such as a moratorium on NATO expansion or a neutral status for Ukraine to defuse the tensions.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.K., Vadym Prystaiko, seemed to suggest just such a middle path, telling the BBC on Sunday that the country could abandon its goal of joining NATO — an objective that is written into its constitution — if it would avert war with Russia.

“We might — especially being threatened like that, blackmailed by that, and pushed to it,” Prystaiko told BBC Radio 5.

On Monday, however, Prystaiko appeared to back away from that, saying that “to avoid war we are ready for many concessions … but it has nothing to do with NATO, which is enshrined in the constitution.”

A young woman holds a weapon during a basic combat training for civilians, organized by the Special Forces Unit Azov, of Ukraine’s National Guard, in Mariupol, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022. The United States is evacuating almost all of the staff from its embassy in Kyiv as Western intelligence officials warn that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is increasingly imminent. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Asked about Prystaiko’s comment, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia would welcome such a move but noted the quick repudiation of it by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

Ukrainian parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk also emphasized that there was no talk about revising the constitutional provision that refers to NATO membership, and some lawmakers called for Prystaiko’s dismissal.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Sunday that Kyiv requested a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the next 48 hours to discuss the Russian deployments near the country’s borders.

Poland, which currently chairs the OSCE, said the meeting is scheduled for Tuesday — but it is unlikely to defuse tensions.

In this photo provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. A MiG-31 fighter of the Russian air force prepares to takeoff at an air base during military drills in Tver region, Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

With the region on edge, the Russian Defense Ministry summoned the U.S. Embassy’s military attaché on Saturday to protest what it said was a U.S. submarine in Russian waters near the Kuril Islands in the Pacific. The Russian military said the submarine initially ignored orders to leave but left after the navy used unspecified “appropriate means.” The U.S. has denied that its ship ever entered Russian waters.

Asked by lawmakers Monday if the military could strike foreign warships that enter Russian waters, deputy chief of the Russian military’s General Staff Stanislav Gadzhimagomedov said the military stands ready for it but added that such decisions are only made on the highest level.

High-level diplomacy has also continued — but with little results so far. In an hourlong Saturday call with Putin, U.S. President Joe Biden said that invading Ukraine would cause “widespread human suffering” and that the West was committed to ending the crisis but “equally prepared for other scenarios,” the White House said.

Biden also spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for about an hour Sunday, agreeing to keep pushing both deterrence and diplomacy to try to stave off a Russian offensive.

As he has before, Zelenskyy sought to play down the idea that a conflict was imminent, noting that Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine “are safe and under reliable protection.”

His office’s readout of the call also quoted him suggesting that a quick Biden visit would help deescalate the situation — a possibility was not mentioned in the White House summary of the call.

Diplomats
In this handout photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, right, welcomes British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss for the talks in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022. Britain’s top diplomat has arrived in Moscow to try to defuse tensions raised by Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP)

Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly leader was driven from office by a popular uprising. Moscow responded by annexing the Crimean Peninsula and then backing a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has killed over 14,000 people.

A 2015 peace deal brokered by France and Germany helped halt large-scale battles, but regular skirmishes have continued, and efforts to reach a political settlement have stalled.

By YURAS KARMANAU and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

Karmanau reported from Kyiv. Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin, Jill Lawless in London, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens contributed.

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