Blinken said the United States would not provide written responses to the Russian Federation's proposals in Geneva

 

 US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has said he will not present written answers to Russia's security proposals to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a meeting in Geneva on Friday. The corresponding statement was made by the head of the State Department on Wednesday at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba in Kiev, TACC reports.

Blinken noted that at the end of a "busy week" of talks, the United States expects to "assess the situation." According to him, "it is also necessary to give negotiators from Russia time to assess the past consultations." "At the moment, I do not intend to present any documents to Foreign Minister Lavrov," Blinken said, answering a journalist's question whether he intended to present a written response to the Russian Federation's proposals at a meeting with the Russian foreign minister. . According to the Secretary of State, he hopes that at the meeting with Lavrov it will be possible to discuss the current state of affairs and "to see if there are still opportunities for diplomacy and dialogue."

The head of the State Department stressed that in the past consultations the United States "did not come up with any proposals to Russia." "We have only expressed our concern about Russia's security challenges in the European region. They have also expressed their own concerns, many of which have been made public," Blinken said. According to him, "soon after the meeting in Geneva (USA) will inform the Ukrainian partners and will discuss (with them) further steps."

It is not clear to Washington which Russian security proposals are central to Europe, some of which the United States says are "doomed to failure," Blinken said.

 "It is not clear what Russia's central request is or is not. They (Russia) have presented a whole range of proposals - some of which are clearly doomed to failure, such as closing NATO's doors to new members. Other proposals, if they really contribute to strengthen the security of each of the countries on a reciprocal basis, which we have made clear that we can discuss, "said the head of US diplomacy.

 He expressed hope that the situation would be clarified after his meeting in Geneva with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on January 21st. "I think these talks, which we have already held, allow us to clarify what is at the root of all this and to see if there are grounds for resolving these issues through diplomacy, dialogue and agreements. We still don't know, I think it will become much clearer to us, maybe after Friday, "Blinken concluded.

 According to him, the United States intends to continue diplomatic cooperation with the Russian Federation to resolve the situation around Ukraine as long as it can. "We intend to follow the diplomatic path in the negotiations with the Russian Federation for as long as possible," he said.

At the same time, Blinken expressed the view that the choice for further developments - by escalating or reducing tensions - remains for Russia. "If there is no result, it is only because Russia has chosen a different path," he added.

"The diplomatic path will be the best for everyone," Blinken continued. "We will stop at nothing in this work and we will continue the intense discussions."