Russia is taking a hard line ahead of the crucial talks with the US

By Tom Balmforth and Mark Trevelyan

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Sunday it would not make any concessions under pressure from the US this week in talks on the Ukraine crisis and demands for Western security assurances, and that it was in danger of ending quickly.

Moscow’s strong line has highlighted the fragile possibility of negotiations that Washington hopes will avoid the risk of a new Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the height of US-Russia relations since the end of the Cold War three decades ago.

The talks are in Geneva, Brussels and Vienna, but the state-run RIA news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying that it is entirely possible to end the diplomacy abruptly after a single meeting.

“I can’t ignore anything, this is a completely possible scenario and Americans … shouldn’t be excited about this,” he said.

“Of course, we will not make concessions under pressure and because of the constant threats posed by Western participants in upcoming talks.”

Ryabkov, who will lead the Russian delegation to Geneva in Geneva, told Interfax that Moscow was not optimistic about the talks.

Ryabkov’s remarks comparing Russia to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when the world was on the brink of nuclear war are in line with Russia’s unwavering stance in recent weeks.

Tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have gathered on the border of Ukraine to prepare for a possible invasion of Washington and Kyiv, eight years after Russia took the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine.

Russia denies plans for an invasion and says it is responding to the military alliance between NATO and Ukraine and its former Soviet neighbors, which is bent westward and intends to join NATO.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blink has accused Russia of promoting a false narrative. “That’s to say that the fox had to attack the chicken coop because the locals are somehow a threat. We’ve seen this gas lighting before,” he said last week.

Further complicating the picture, Russia sent troops to neighboring Kazakhstan last week after a wave of unrest hit the former Soviet-producing oil republic. His Foreign Ministry reacted angrily to a story by Blinken on Saturday: “Once the Russians are in your house, it is sometimes very difficult for them to leave.”

RED LINES

Last month, Russia submitted a wide range of requests, including a border for further NATO expansion and an end to the alliance’s activities in the Central and Eastern European countries that met since 1997.

The United States and NATO have said that much of Russia’s proposals are not a launch.

A senior Biden administration official said on Saturday that the U.S. was not ready to discuss the limits of U.S. troop deployments or the U.S. position of force in NATO countries in the region.

He was ready, however, to discuss the possibility of limiting military exercises and missile deployments in the region.

Accepting such a limited agenda and ignoring its other demands would be a huge increase that Russia would be unlikely to do, especially after troop movements near Ukraine and some harsh statements by President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin leader said it was time for Russia to implement its “red lines” after successive NATO enlargements and did not allow the alliance to ensure that Ukraine or its weapons system would not target Russia.

Ukraine won in 2008 that it would be allowed to join NATO’s promise one day, but diplomats say there is no doubt that this will happen soon.

NATO says it is a defensive alliance and Moscow is not afraid. That is far from Putin’s worldview, which sees Russia as a threat to Western powers, saying that it has repeatedly broken its promise not to expand its borders when the Cold War ended. The United States and its allies are discussing such a commitment.

In two talks with Putin over the past five weeks, US President Joe Biden has warned that Russia will face unprecedented economic sanctions in the event of further attacks on Ukraine. The Group of Seven nations and the European Union have joined forces to threaten “massive consequences”.

Putin responded that it would be a huge mistake that would lead to a complete rupture of relations.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the Ryabkov-led group had arrived in Geneva for formal talks on Monday.

Russia is also due to negotiate with NATO in Brussels on Wednesday and at the European Security and Cooperation Organization in Vienna on Thursday.