Russia ready for more talks with West to end Ukraine standoff
- By: Web Master
- | Date: 15 February 2022
- | Viewer: 1.6k
February 14, 2022 11:09 PM
Russia held open the door on Monday to further talks on resolving its standoff with the West and said some of its military drills were ending, signalling a possible easing of the crisis over Ukraine.
The comments came as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, visiting Kiev, vowed that Berlin and Western allies would maintain support for Ukraine's security and independence, urging Russia to take up "offers of dialogue."
During a televised meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said "there is always a chance" to reach an agreement with the West over Ukraine.
He told Putin that initial exchanges with leaders in European capitals and Washington showed enough of an opening for progress on Russia's ambitions to be worth pursuing.
"I would suggest continuing," Lavrov said. "Fine," Putin replied.
Meanwhile, during a press conference in Kiev with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Scholz told reporters there was "no reasonable justification" for Russia's build-up of troops around Ukraine's borders.
He also urged Moscow "to take up the existing offers of dialogue." Ahead
of the talks, Ukraine demanded an urgent meeting with Russia to explain
why it has deployed more than 100,000 soldiers around its borders. Over recent weeks,
European leaders have warned that the build-up is the worst threat to
the continent's security since the Cold War, with Putin demanding a
rollback of Western influence in eastern Europe and a ban on Ukraine
joining Nato. Western
allies have prepared what they warn would be a crippling package of
economic sanctions in response to any attack, the threat of which a
German government source said was, "very critical, very dangerous." Alarm
has been fuelled by recent Russian military exercises, including with
Belarus, where the US said Moscow had dispatched 30,000 troops for more
than a week of drills. Russia's
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin that some of the drills
taking place in Russia and waters around the country were "ending" and
more would end "in the near future." In
Kiev, Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov meanwhile hailed
"positive" talks with his Belarusian counterpart. He said he had been
assured "there are no threats to Ukraine from Belarus. US intelligence
officials worry that weeks of crisis talks have given Russia the time to
prepare a major offensive should Putin decide to attack Ukraine. On Sunday, Washington warned that Russia was ready to strike at "any moment." Ukraine
requested a formal meeting with Moscow on Monday and other members of
the pan-European security body, the OSCE, that might explain "the
reinforcement and movement of Russian forces along our border." Near
the frontline separating Kiev-held territory from areas under the
control of Moscow-backed insurgents in the separatist east,
underprivileged children in the care of church groups were helping with
war preparations. "We
are digging trenches that Ukrainian soldiers could quickly jump into
and defend in case the Russians attack," 15-year-old Mykhailo Anopa told
AFP. Germany
plays a central role in efforts to mediate in eastern Ukraine, where a
gruelling conflict with Russian-backed separatists has claimed more than
14,000 lives. But
Germany's close business relations with Moscow and heavy reliance on
Russian natural gas imports have been a source of lingering concern for
Kiev's pro-Western leaders and US President Joe Biden's team. Scholz
has hedged against unequivocally backing Biden's pledge to "bring an
end" to Russia's new Nord Stream 2 gas link to Germany -- an project
that Zelenskiy described on Monday as "a geopolitical weapon." Zelenskiy
repeated during the press conference Monday with Scholz that joining
the Nato alliance would guarantee Ukraine's survival. But
Ukraine's membership is a sticking point in talks between Russia and
the West, which has spurned a demand from Moscow that Kiev never be
admitted from the US-led military bloc. "We understand that Nato membership would ensure our security and our territorial integrity," Zelenskiy said. Scholz
is set to visit Moscow on Tuesday after tit-for-tat closures of the
German-language service of Russia's RT network and the Moscow bureau of
Germany's Deutsche Welle. A
growing number of Western countries are withdrawing staff from their
Kiev embassies and urging their citizens to leave Ukraine immediately. But departures may be complicated by the looming threat of the skies over Ukraine closing due to rising risks for airlines. Dutch carrier KLM became the first major airline over the weekend to suspend flights to Kiev indefinitely. On
Monday, ahead of the potential shutdown, Kiev's international airport
was busy but there were no signs of panic despite long queues to depart. Ukraine's
budget airline SkyUp said European leasing companies were demanding
that Ukrainian carriers return their planes to EU airspace within 48
hours. Industry
analysts believe other international airlines may soon also ban flights
into Ukraine because of the growing cost to insurers.'Digging trenches'
Tough trip
Airline worries
