Enlarge image
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov (December 2021 in Stockholm)
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry / imago images / ITAR-TASS
Russia has massed around 100,000 soldiers on the border with Ukraine.
The West now fears an invasion of the neighboring country.
In view of the serious tensions in the Ukraine conflict, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is now planning a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Friday.
The goal is to continue diplomatic talks and get Russia to take immediate steps to de-escalate, a senior US State Department official said.
"Minister Blinken is 150 percent committed to seeing if there is a diplomatic way out," the government official said.
Blinken had previously spoken to Lavrov on the phone.
"As part of this conversation, the two decided that it would make sense to meet in person," it said.
Because of a massive Russian troop deployment on the border with Ukraine, the West fears that Russia is preparing to invade the neighboring country.
The government in Moscow denies this.
Concerns about the arrival of Russian soldiers in Belarus
The government representative in Washington was now also concerned about the arrival of Russian troops in Belarus. This would give Russia another option should the government in Moscow decide to take military action against Ukraine. According to the Belarusian Defense Ministry, the Russian soldiers had been relocated for a joint military maneuver.
It continues to work very closely with its allies to ensure that there will be "massive consequences" should Russia decide to pursue further military aggression against Ukraine. "We are now at a stage where Russia could launch an attack on Ukraine at any time," the official warned. Negotiations between the USA and Russia in the NATO-Russia Council and within the framework of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in the past week remained largely unsuccessful.
Blinken will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kiev on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Blinken will travel to Berlin, where he wants to meet German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, among others.
The meeting with Lavrov is an opportunity for the US to see where there is a chance for Moscow and Washington to find common ground, the US State Department said.
"Diplomacy is not dead," said the official.
asc/dpa/AFP
