WASHINGTON: The Russian and US foreign ministers are set to hold fresh talks on Tuesday after a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine, with Washington vowing to work with Western allies to beef up sanctions should Moscow decide to invade its neighbour. The Security Council convened later on Monday over the crisis as fears of an imminent incursion grow, despite Kremlin denials.
Russia announced Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will speak with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“Lavrov and Blinken will have a telephone conversation on Tuesday’’, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a press briefing.
The upcoming call is the latest in a flurry of diplomatic meetings between senior diplomats from Moscow, Brussels and Washington over the conflict in Ukraine and disagreements over security concerns in Europe.
The United States and Britain on Sunday flagged new and “devastating” economic sanctions against Russia, as Washington and its allies step up efforts to deter any invasion.
With tensions soaring, the United States said it was prepared to push back against any “disinformation” Moscow put forward in what is expected to be one of the most closely watched United Nations sessions in years.
Russia is likely to try to block the 15-member council from holding its US-requested meeting, “but the Security Council is unified. Our voices are unified in calling for the Russians to explain themselves’’, Washington’s UN envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield told ABC News.
“We’re going to go in the room prepared to listen to them, but we’re not going to be distracted by their propaganda’’, she said on Sunday. “And we’re going to be prepared to respond to any disinformation that they attempt to spread during this meeting.”
US Under-secretary of State Victoria Nuland told CBS a proposal on security issues presented last week by the US and Nato to Russia may have stirred interest in Moscow.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, meanwhile, took a tough stance, saying it was crucial Washington send a powerful message to President Vladimir Putin that any aggression against Ukraine would come at a very high cost. — AFP
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