Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with the United States in Geneva on Friday that dialogue would continue over Moscow's security demands and that it expected written responses from Washington next week.
Speaking at a news conference after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Lavrov said he hoped that emotions would cool down over Ukraine and repeated Russian assertions that it poses no threat to its former Soviet neighbour.
Russia, which has tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine's border and has sent troops to Belarus for joint military drills, wants NATO to promise not to admit Ukraine as a member and has urged the Western military alliance to halt eastward expansion. NATO has rejected the demands.
Describing Friday's talks as open and useful, Lavrov said Russian had no plans to attack Ukraine and that Russian President Vladimir Putin was always ready for contacts with U.S. President Joe Biden, but that any contact should be well prepared.
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Blinken was scheduled to hold his own news briefing.
Ahead of Friday's talks, Blinken and Lavrov shook hands in the Hotel President Wilson in the Swiss city of Geneva and agreed they expected no breakthrough.
"But I do hope and expect that we can test whether the path of diplomacy, of dialogue remains open. We're committed to walking that path, to resolving our differences peacefully and I hope to test that proposition today," Blinken said.
Washington's hopes of building a united front of opposition to Moscow were complicated by Biden's comments at a news conference on Wednesday in which he predicted Russia would "move in" on Ukraine and said Moscow would pay dearly.
Western states fear Moscow is planning a new assault on Ukraine after sending in forces into the former Soviet republic 2014 to annex the Crimea peninsula. Russia denies planning an attack but says it could take unspecified military action if its security demands are not met.
Asked by CBS News whether Russia was intimidated by Ukraine, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on arriving for the talks on a cold and blusxjmtzywtery day in Geneva: "We're not afraid of anyone, even not of the U.S."
In Moscow, the Kremlin reacted coolly to a Russian parliament initiative to recognize two pro-Russian breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent states, saying it was important to avoid steps that could increase tensions.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was important not to try and score political points in such a fragile situation.
'No minor incursions'
Before Friday's meeting, Blinken swung through Europe to try to shore up U.S. allies' commitments to hit Russia with economic sanctions if it goes ahead with an invasion of Ukraine.
In Kyiv on Wednesday, Blinken assured Ukraine of U.S. support. Blinken, before meeting German, French and British officials in Berlin on Thursday, said Russian President Vladimir Putin could order an invasion imminently.
Blinken's deputy, Wendy Sherman, and Lavrov's deputy, Sergei Ryabkov, also met in Geneva last week, without a breakthrough.
Calling out what he called Russian "disinformation" aimed at destabilizing Ukraine, Blinken said on Thursday the diplomatic efforts this week meant he could present a shared view of Western nations to Russia on Friday.
Diplomatic damage control underway after Biden’s Russia-Ukraine comments
11 hours agoDuration 2:32The U.S. and its NATO allies performed damage control and showed their support for Ukraine a day after President Joe Biden’s comments about how the U.S. would respond to Russia invading Ukraine. 2:32
But that unity appeared to be undermined by comments by Biden, who said on Wednesday that the West's response may not be unified if Russia makes a "minor incursion" into Ukraine. The comments forced administration officials to issue clarifications but raised doubts among U.S. allies that Washington was willing to give Putin some leeway to avert a full-scale invasion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday sent a Tweet reminding "the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones."
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Orysia Lutsevych, a Ukraine analyst at the Chatham House think-tank in London, said the Geneva meeting would give the United States the chance to clarify Biden's comments.
"Hopefully Blinken will be able to straighten out some of this ambiguity, if he has the mandate," she said.
