Sitemap

Ukraine Crisis: Why Russia-US Talks May Prove Crucial

Serbia To Celebrate The EU Green Week

Serbia is celebrating the EU Green Week...

Elon Musk Reclaims Title Of World’s Richest Person

Elon Musk is once again the world’s...

Argentina’s Candidate Wins Vote To Lead UN Weather Agency

 Argentina's Celeste Saulo was appointed to head...

Sweden Likely To Becoming First Smoke-free Country

Sweden has the lowest smoking rate in...

The President Of India Draupadi Murmu Visits Serbia

The President of India, Draupadi Murmu, has arrived on an official visit to Serbia, where she will stay for...

Slovenia To Take Up Seat Of UNSC Non-permanent Member For 2024-2025

Slovenia, not Belarus, will take up the seat of a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2024-2025...

Čadež: The Western Balkans Is The Region Of Potential And Not Problems

Europe should accept, as soon as possible, the fact that the Western Balkans (WB) is not the region of...

World Environment Day 25 June: Solutions To Plastic Pollution

More than 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced every year worldwide, half of which is designed to be used only...

Serbia To Celebrate The EU Green Week

Serbia is celebrating the EU Green Week again this year, with a set of events that brings together hundreds...

Senior diplomats from the US and Russia are meeting in the Swiss city of Geneva for the first of a series of crunch talks aimed at defusing tension over Ukraine.

The stakes for these talks on Monday are high. But both sides hold wildly different expectations. The US and other Western powers want to dissuade Russia from invading Ukraine.

But Russia wants to talk about its maximalist demands for Nato to retreat from eastern Europe. It’s calling for Nato to pull its forces out of former Soviet countries, end any eastern expansion and rule out Ukraine joining the alliance.

Some US officials fear these demands are deliberately unrealistic, designed to be rejected and used as a pretext for military action. Other diplomats believe Russian President Vladimir Putin is aiming high to squeeze concessions out of a Western alliance that is willing to give ground to avoid war.

They say the Russian president is effectively demanding an end to Europe’s post-Cold War security architecture and the establishment of a Russian “sphere of influence”.

A high price

Given this, the US and Nato have dismissed most of Russia’s demands as “non-starters”. And the US has categorically denied reports it is considering possible troop reductions.

But American officials have said they are willing to look at curbs on military exercises and missile deployments.

One idea is a partial revival of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that the US abandoned in 2019 after Russia was accused of breaching its provisions. Other ideas are more measures to build confidence and greater transparency between Russia and the US.

The fear among some European allies is that even this would be too much of a reward for Russia, too high a price for trying to avoid conflict in Ukraine.

They fear the US might be willing to concede too much so it can focus more on China and domestic challenges, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the economy.

The US is aware of these fears and repeatedly insists it will not agree anything about Ukraine or European security without those countries involved.

Either way, President Putin has already made some gains, winning a platform this week to air his grievances and force the US and Europe to engage with his agenda of Nato reform.

Both sides are playing down expectations of an immediate deal. But that does not mean this week’s talks are not important.

Related

Russia, China, Britain, U.S. And France Say No One Can Win Nuclear War

China, Russia, Britain, the United States and France have agreed that a further spread of nuclear arms and a nuclear war should be avoided,...

H.E. Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, Ambassador Of Russia To Serbia

Dialogue Is Needed In BiH, OHR Is Outdated

One does not need a chemist’s scales to understand that it was not the Bosnian-Serbs leadership that sparked the crisis situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, much...

A crucial staging post

At best, the talks could shed more light on Mr Putin’s intentions and reveal if he is serious about engaging in diplomacy.

At worst, a breakdown could lead to war, allowing Mr Putin to claim to his domestic audience that the West was not willing to talk and agree to his demands, and he was thus forced to act to ensure Russia’s security.

Western diplomats say they are ready for what they see as this false narrative: hence the Nato Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, insisting the alliance is ready for any Russian military action, and the firm warnings from the US and Europe that any invasion would be met with massive economic sanctions.

So, this week’s talks could prove a crucial diplomatic staging post, with the fate of Ukraine and Europe’s post-Cold War security architecture in the balance.

Source: bbc.com/news/, Photo: Getty Images

Related Articles

Maduro Says Venezuela Wants To Join BRICS

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on May 29 that his country is interested in joining BRICS, an association of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and...

Russian Diesel Exports On Track To Break Record Despite EU Sanctions

According to Bloomberg, Russian diesel exports are on track to hit a record this month despite European Union sanctions that have deprived the country...

Serbia Donates Ambulances To Ukraine As Part Of The Agreement Between Tamara Vučić And Oleana Zelenska

Serbia donated two ambulances to Ukraine, it was confirmed by Oleana Zelenska, the wife of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, adding that she...

Ambassador Of Ukraine: We Consistently Support The Territorial Integrity Of Serbia

Ukraine consistently adheres to the principle of the territorial integrity of Serbia, said the Ukrainian ambassador in Belgrade H.E. Volodymyr Tolkach. Ambassador of Ukraine to...

Algeria Officially Applies To Join BRICS

Algeria has submitted an official application to join the BRICS group of major developing economies, Leyla Zeruki, special envoy of the Ministry of Foreign...

Peter Szijártó: The Oil Pipeline To Serbia Can Be Built In 18 Months

The pipeline for the transport of Russian oil from Hungary to Serbia can be built in eighteen months, said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijártó. "It...

IMF: War Caused Biggest Food Shortage Since 2008

The war in Ukraine has disrupted supplies of grain and fertilizer, producing the worst food shortages since the global financial crisis of 2007 and...

Putin: Russia Will Help Serbia In The Fight For Legitimate Rights And Interests

Russia will continue to deepen cooperation with Serbia and to support the protection of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, said Russian President Vladimir Putin...