- President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia is ready to talk with US, NATO on security issues.
- In DC, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
- And President Joe Biden talked with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow is ready for talks with the U.S. and NATO on limits for missile deployments and military transparency, a second signal Tuesday of a potential tension release in the conflict between Russia and the West over Ukraine.
Just hours earlier, Russia said it would send home some troops from military exercises, which have raised fears of an invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking after talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Putin said that while the U.S. and NATO rejected Moscow’s demand to keep Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations out of NATO, halt weapons deployments near Russian borders and roll back alliance forces from Eastern Europe, they have agreed to discuss some security measures already suggested by Russia.
Putin said Russia is ready to engage in talks on limiting the deployment of intermediate range missiles in Europe, transparency of drills and other confidence-building measures but emphasized the need for the West to heed Russia’s main demands.
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Blinken speaks with Lavrov as Biden talks to Macron
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on Tuesday morning, as efforts to de-escalate the military situation around Ukraine picked up.
The call with Russia’s foreign minister came hours after Moscow said it started pulling back some troop units taking part in military exercises near Ukraine’s border.
A senior State Department official provided little information on the call, other than that Blinken and Lavrov agreed to stay in touch when they last spoke.
Around the same time of Lavrov call, President Joe Biden spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron from 10:11-11 a.m., according to the White House.
– Maureen Groppe
Russia announces troops will return to bases
Russia’s defense ministry claimed Tuesday that it started pulling back some troop units taking part in military exercises near Ukraine’s border, but it gave no specific details on where the troops were pulling back from, or how many.
Ukrainian officials said it was too early to tell whether the announcement reflected a genuine change of tone from Moscow following weeks of tensions over fears of a Russian invasion.
“As with all things Russia, actions speak louder than words,” Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh told CNBC on Tuesday morning. “We’re going to monitor everything that we see on the ground very carefully. And of course, our goal is peace and to uphold the principle that you can’t redraw borders by force.”
“If there’s a troop or a tank that crosses the border, we’re ready to impose the most severe sanctions ever levied on Russia in lockstep with our allies and partners,” he said.
The apparent development came a day after Russia’s foreign minister indicated the country was ready to keep talking about the security grievances that led to the Ukraine crisis – Europe’s worst East-West standoff in decades – and western officials warned the attack could come at any time, signaling Wednesday as a possible invasion day.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly accused the West of causing undue panic over Russia’s invasion threat, saying Ukraine’s intelligence did not indicate an imminent threat. The fears of an invasion grew from the fact that Russia has massed more than 130,000 troops near Ukraine. Russia denies it has any invasions plans.
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Ukraine’s leaders expressed skepticism about Russia’s reported pullback.
“Russia constantly makes various statements,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said. “That’s why we have the rule: We won’t believe when we hear, we’ll believe when we see. When we see troops pulling out, we’ll believe in de-escalation.”
Moscow wants guarantees that NATO will not allow Ukraine and other former Soviet countries to join the military alliance. It also wants the alliance to halt weapons deployments to Ukraine and roll back its forces from Eastern Europe.
The Kremlin has cast the U.S. warnings of an imminent attack as “hysteria” and “absurdity,” and many Russians believe that Washington is deliberately stoking panic and fomenting tensions to trigger a conflict for domestic reasons.
Zelenskyy declared Wednesday would be a “day of national unity,” calling on the country to display the blue-and-yellow flag and sing the national anthem.
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Contributing: Courtney Subramanian, USA TODAY; Associated Press
