A top US security official in Europe has warned the "drumbeat of war is sounding loud" amid this week's series of NATO and Russian talks, also as Washington and Brussels continue to condemn Russia's troop build-up near Ukraine.
"We're facing a crisis in European security. The drumbeat of war is sounding loud, and the rhetoric has gotten rather shrill," US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Michael Carpenter said Thursday.
"If the Russians walk away from these talks, it'll be clear that they were never serious about diplomacy in the first place," he added. However, the Russian side was miffed when at the very start of talks Monday in Geneva (and subsequent talks in Brussels and Vienna), the US declared its core demand of no more NATO eastward expansion to be a "non-starter" in the talks.
The US side is still standing by this, also recently accusing Moscow of using its troop placement near Ukraine - said to be up to 100,000 - in order to present "ultimatums" to the West. Further, Carpenter presented the US side as having extended an open hand of dialogue, which officials on both sides have stopped far short of recognizing as "negotiations" on any level.
Meanwhile, Russia's Foreign Ministry has come away from this week's engagement with NATO, the US, and even Ukraine officials (in Vienna) saying it's led to a healthy airing of demands but has hit a "dead end"...
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who has led the Russian delegation in the three meetings, appeared to dismiss the possibility of ongoing discussions, reportedly saying in a press briefing after the OSCE session on Thursday that he saw "no grounds" to continue the talks.
"There is, to a certain extent, a dead end or a difference in approaches," Ryabkov said, citing no real flexibility coming from the US side. "I do not see reasons to sit down in the coming days, to gather again and start these same discussions." The Russian delegation said that proposals from the West for grounds to continue talks would be submitted to President Putin for further consideration, but struck a pessimistic tone.
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