Buzzez
Related Articles
Russia demanded security guarantees from the United States and NATO, including a binding commitment that NATO will not expand further east and allow Ukraine to join the alliance military.
Biden previously signaled that the United States would not make any concessions on the future of NATO or Ukraine.
Russia and NATO also plan to hold a separate meeting on January 12, with both CNS spokesman and a NATO press officer confirmed to CNN.
The two sides are also expected to engage at a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe scheduled for January 13, according to the US spokesman.
US officials plan to consult regularly with Ukraine on the side as negotiations take place next month, a White House official told CNN, since Ukraine is not a member of two of the three bodies that must meet in early January to discuss the country’s future and Russia demands that NATO not expand further east.
Asked why the White House planned to use the strategic stability dialogue between the United States and Russia – traditionally reserved for nuclear weapons talks – for talks on Ukraine and NATO, the official said the administration wanted to use an existing format as a vehicle for the talks instead. create a new one especially for this purpose. The United States and Russia are still arguing over the agenda.
The official said the White House believed the talks would be more productive in an environment of de-escalation, but said the status of the talks did not depend on Russia pulling out. The White House still believes diplomacy is the most responsible way forward “even if we don’t get everything we want,” the official said.
This story has been updated.
CNN’s Anna Chernova and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.
