NATO-Russia talks will be held in Brussels on Wednesday amid pessimism over the progress of the dialogue due to uncompromising positions taken by Moscow and Washington on tensions in Eastern Europe on December 10, Euronews reported.
Amid a build-up of Russian troops near Ukraine, the United States rejected a request to halt NATO enlargement, and the Kremlin said it would quickly see if it was even worth continuing talks.
During talks between Russia and the United States in Geneva on Monday, Moscow called for guarantees that would exclude NATO enlargement to Ukraine and other former Soviet states, and demanded that the military alliance's forces in Eastern Europe be revoked. The United States has firmly rejected the demands, which it has described as "non-starters."
"We will not allow anyone to close NATO's open policy," said US Ambassador to the Alliance US Ambassador Julian Smith, setting a firm tone for the next talks with Moscow and ruling out any concessions to the Alliance's eastward expansion.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the Geneva talks as "open, comprehensive and direct", but stressed that Moscow wants quick results.
"We see no significant reason for optimism," he told reporters.
Peskov said Russia-NATO talks on Wednesday and the OSCE meeting in Vienna on Thursday will show whether further talks are worth it.
"It will be clear in which direction and how to proceed and whether it makes sense," he said. "We would absolutely not agree to prolong this process indefinitely."
Smith said that "no NATO ally wants to back down or negotiate something related to NATO's open door policy."
"We will strongly oppose the security proposals, which we simply cannot start," she told reporters. "There is widespread unity and consensus within the Alliance on the challenge we face."
The United States estimates that Russia has amassed about 100,000 troops near Ukraine, an accumulation that fuels fears of invasion.
Moscow says it has no plans to attack and rejects Washington's request to withdraw its forces, saying it has the right to deploy them wherever it wants on its territory.
President Vladimir Putin has warned that the Kremlin will take unspecified "military-technical measures" if the United States and its allies do not comply.
He spoke with members of his Security Council, saying he wanted to discuss unspecified security and infrastructure issues in border areas.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said it was "too early to say whether the Russians are serious on the path to diplomacy or not" or whether they would use the talks as a "pretext to say diplomacy doesn't work" to justify an invasion.
Psaki sidestepped questions about whether the United States agrees that the Geneva talks do not give cause for greater optimism. However, she noted that there have been discussions about the deployment of missiles in Europe and reciprocal restrictions on military exercises.
"There are a number of discussions that could be part of the diplomatic path, but in the end the Russians have to decide whether to take a serious approach," a White House spokesman said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who led the Russian delegation in Geneva, said after the meeting that it would be difficult to make any progress on other issues if the United States and its allies opposed Russia's request for guarantees that precluded enlargement. NATO.
The United States and its allies have rejected NATO's request not to admit new members, stressing that a key principle of the Alliance is that membership is open to any eligible country and no outsider has a veto.
But Washington and NATO also say they are ready to discuss arms control, confidence-building measures, greater transparency and risk reduction if Russia takes a constructive stance.
US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman said she had briefed the North Atlantic Council on her talks in Geneva.
"The United States is committed to working with our allies and partners to push for de-escalation and respond to the security crisis caused by Russia," she wrote on Twitter.
The United States has warned that Russia will face unprecedented sanctions if it invades Ukraine.
Amid tensions, the Russian military says 3,000 troops have been deployed to exercises at training grounds in the Voronezh, Belgorod, Bryansk and Smolensk regions near Ukraine.
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