US is open to talks with Russia on exercises and missile launches – Reuters official

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and its allies are ready to discuss talks with Ukraine over the possibility of either side limiting military exercise and missile deployment in the region, a senior U.S. administration official said on Saturday.

The crucial talks, which are set to begin in Geneva on Monday, said Biden administration officials said the United States was not ready to discuss the limits of U.S. troop deployments or the position of U.S. forces in NATO countries in the region.

President Joe Biden has warned that Russia would have serious economic consequences if Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine. U.S. officials provided more details on the harsh sentences that could be imposed on Saturday.

A reduction, as described by a source familiar with the plan, could target critical industrial sectors in Russia, including defense and civil aviation, and would always affect Russia’s high-tech intentions, such as artificial intelligence or quantum computing, or even consumerism. also in electronic.

The talks in Geneva, which will hold further sessions in Brussels and Vienna next week, are aimed at averting the crisis. Putin has gathered tens of thousands of troops on the Ukrainian border, raising fears of an invasion.

It was not clear whether the United States and its European allies could make progress in talks with Moscow. Putin wants to end NATO’s deployment to the east and security guarantees, the US says the request is unacceptable.

But a senior U.S. official, briefing reporters before the interview, said some areas have options for the toilet.

“Discussions about these overlapping areas where we can make progress should be reciprocal,” the official said. “Both sides should make essentially the same commitment.”

Russia says it is threatened with the possibility of the United States deploying offensive missile systems in Ukraine, although Biden has assured Putin that it has no plans to do so.

“So this is an area where we can reach a consensus if Russia is willing to commit to each other,” he said.

The U.S. is also ready to discuss restrictions on both sides in military exercises, the official said.

“We are ready to consider the possibility of mutual reductions in the size and extent of these exercises, both in terms of strategic bombers close to each other and in terms of ground exercises,” the official said.

The official said Washington is open to a broader discussion on missile deployment in the region. In 2019, former President Donald Trump withdrew from the 1987 US-Russia Nuclear Forces Pact, accusing Moscow of violating the agreement.

A senior Biden administration official said the sanctions under investigation in the case of the Russian invasion would not start low and would tighten over time.

“Instead, we would take a ‘start up, stay on top’ approach, where – in coordination with our allies and partners – we would immediately impose serious and enormous costs on the Russian economy, including its financial system and the Kremlin’s critical sectors,” he said.

The U.S. is discussing a series of trade restrictions with European and Asian allies and partners, a source familiar with the plan said.

No decision has yet been made, but the restrictions considered could affect certain U.S. products exported to Russia and some products made abroad under U.S. jurisdiction.

Russia could be added to the most restrictive group of countries for export control, along with Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria. These actions may also restrict the export of products made abroad if they hold more than one percent of the U.S. content.

In addition, it is considering exercising U.S. jurisdiction to export all microelectronics designed with U.S. software or technology or produced with U.S. equipment through the Foreign Direct Product Standard used by the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei to export to Russia. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/exclusive-us-could-hit-russia-smartphone-aircraft-part-imports-if-it-invades-2021-12-21