Russia said on Thursday it was clear the United States was not willing to address its main security concerns in their standoff over Ukraine, but kept the door open for further dialogue.
The United States and NATO submitted a written response on Wednesday to demands Russia has made for a redrawing of post-Cold War security arrangements in Europe since it massed troops near Ukraine, prompting Western fears of an invasion.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow needed time to review the response and would not rush to conclusions, but that U.S. and NATO statements describing Russia's main demands as unacceptable did not leave much room for optimism.
"Based on what our [U.S. and NATO] colleagues said yesterday, it's absolutely clear that on the main categories outlined in those draft documents … we cannot say that our thoughts have been taken into account or that a willingness has been shown to take our concerns into account," he said. "But we won't rush with our assessments."
The nuanced Kremlin reaction made clear that Russia was not rejecting the U.S. and NATO responses out of hand or closing the door to diplomacy.
The Russian foreign ministry said the best way to reduce tensions was for NATO to withdraw forces from eastern Europe, but also sought to quash fears of an invasion.
"We have already repeatedly stated that our country does not intend to attack anyone. We consider even the thxjmtzywought of a war between our people to be unacceptable," said Alexei Zaitsev, a ministry spokesperson.
Fragile diplomacy
With weeks of careful dialogue yet to reach a breakthrough, U.S. President Joe Biden agreed in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on "joint actions for the future" and discussed possibilities for financial support, Zelensky wrote on Twitter.
Russia's security demands, presented in December, include an end to further NATO enlargement, barring Ukraine from ever joining and pulling back the alliance's forces and weaponry from eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War.
Had a long phone conversation with <a href=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/”https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@POTUS. Discussed recent diplomatic efforts on de-escalation and agreed on joint actions for the future. Thanked President @JoeBiden for the ongoing military assistance. Possibilities for financial support to Ukraine were also discussed. pic.twitter.com/pAsQLYAuig
—@ZelenskyyUa
Responses by the U.S. and NATO were not made public, but both had already rejected those demands while expressing willingness to engage on issues such as arms control, confidence-building measures and limits on the size and scope of military exercises.
China told the United States it wants all parties involved in Ukraine to remain calm "and refrain from doing things that agitate tensions and hype up the crisis."
Washington had its own message for Beijing, according to Victoria Nuland, the U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs.
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"We are calling on Beijing to use its influence with Moscow to urge diplomacy, because if there is a conflict in the Ukraine it is not going to be good for China either," she said.
With China-Russia relations possibly at their warmest in history, Washington cannot expect Chinese backing for its position in the standoff, policy experts said.
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Western countries have warned of economic sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine, building on measures imposed since 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea and Russian-backed separatists began fighting the Kyiv government's forces in eastern Ukraine.
"[We] continue to have very strong and clear conversations with our German allies, and I want to be clear with you today, if Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another Nord Stream 2 will not move forward," Nuland said of the natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany.
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The U.S. has sought to assure the European Union it will help them find alternative gas sources if Russia cuts them off, but global supplies are short.
A day after Ukrainian, Russian, German and French diplomats discussed the conflict in eastern Ukraine and agreed to more talks, Russia's foreign minister said there was hope of starting serious dialogue with the U.S., but only on secondary issues.
'Military-technical response'
Putin, who has not spoken publicly on the crisis for weeks, has warned of an unspecified "military-technical response" — something defence analysts say could relate to missile deployments — if Russia's demands are ignored.
A senior Russian foreign ministry official said a nuclear missile crisis between Moscow and Washington was unavoidable without measures to ensure restraint and predictability.
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The official, Vladimir Ermakov, was quoted by TASS news agency as saying that Moscow believes Washington was preparing to deploy short and intermediate range missiles to Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
Biden has said he will not send U.S. or allied troops to fight Russia in Ukraine but NATO has said it is putting forces on standby and reinforcing eastern Europe with more ships and fighter jets.
