Russia Says It's Not Invading Ukraine: U.S. Raps Irrational Demands

With Russian troops massing along Ukraine’s borders, American and Russian diplomats made clear after an intense round of negotiations on Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, that while the two sides would keep talking, they remain far from agreement on meeting each other’s security concerns, the New York Times reported.

Photo Insert: Sherman and Ryabkov

Russian officials said they told their American counterparts they had no plans to invade Ukraine, in a series of talks that lasted nearly eight hours. “There is no reason to fear some kind of escalatory scenario,” Sergei A. Ryabkov, a Russian deputy foreign minister, told reporters after the meeting.

“The talks were difficult, long, very professional, deep, concrete, without attempts to gloss over some sharp edges,” Mr. Ryabkov said. “We had the feeling that the American side took the Russian proposals very seriously and studied them deeply.”

Wendy Sherman, the lead American diplomat, said the United States was “pushing back on security proposals that are simply non-starters for the US,” including Russia’s demands that Ukraine not be admitted into NATO, and that the alliance end its security cooperation with Ukraine.

“We will not allow anyone to slam closed NATO’s open-door policy, which has always been central to the NATO alliance,” Ms. Sherman said on a conference call with reporters.

“We will not forgo bilateral cooperation with sovereign states that wish to work with the US. And we will not make decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine, about Europe without Europe, or about NATO without NATO.”

Both sides tamped down any expectations for a diplomatic breakthrough. “Today was a discussion, a better understanding of each other and each other’s priorities,” Ms. Sherman said.

“It was not what we would call a negotiation.” The tone of the talks “makes one more optimistic,” Mr. Ryabkov said, “but the main questions are still up in the air, and we don’t see an understanding from the American side of the necessity of a decision in a way that satisfies us.”

Ms. Sherman said the two sides discussed the possibility of reviving the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which the US junked in 2019 after years of accusing Russia of violating its terms.

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