[Politics] Russia and NATO meet as Moscow and Washington harden stances on Ukraine

[JOYBOY]

 

Talks between NATO and Russia take place in Brussels on Wednesday, amid pessimism over progress following uncompromising stands taken by Moscow and Washington over tensions in eastern Europe.

Against the background of a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine, the US rebuffed a demand to halt NATO expansion and the Kremlin said it would quickly see whether it was worthwhile even to keep negotiating.

At Russia-US talks in Geneva on Monday, Moscow insisted on guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations and demanded to roll back the military alliance’s deployments in eastern Europe. The US firmly rejected the demands as a nonstarter.

“We will not allow anyone to slam NATO’s open-door policy shut,” said US ambassador Julianne Smith, the country’s envoy to the alliance, setting a tough tone for the next talks with Moscow and ruling out any concessions on the alliance's eastward expansion.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the Geneva talks as “open, comprehensive and direct,” but emphasised that Moscow wants quick results.