Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken during a meeting in KievWASHINGTON, Jan 19 strong> US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said during a visit to Kiev that he informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about US-Russian contacts last week. Earlier, Blinken arrived in Ukraine as part of a planned visit.
I updated Ukrainian President @ZelenskyyUA today on our engagements with Russia last week and stressed there will be nothing about Ukraine, without Ukraine. I applaud Ukraine’s commitment to a peaceful resolution and urge Russia to pursue diplomacy as the only way forward. pic.twitter.com/A0cNX7k23m
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) January 19, 2022 «Today, I briefed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on our contacts with Russia last week and emphasized that there would be nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. I welcome Ukraine's commitment to a peaceful resolution of the situation and urge Russia to follow diplomacy as the only way to move forward,» Blinken said on Twitter. At the end of 2021, Russia published draft treaties with the United States and agreements with NATO on security assurances. Moscow, in particular, demands from its Western partners legal guarantees of refusing further expansion of NATO to the east, from joining the bloc of Ukraine and from creating military bases in post-Soviet countries. On January 10, Russia and the United States held a new round of dialogue on strategic stability in Geneva. It was followed by a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels. It was followed on Thursday, January 13, by consultations at the Vienna site of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The main focus of these discussions was the security proposals that the Russian side presented to the US and NATO at the end of last year against the backdrop of the escalating crisis in Ukraine. Ukraine wanted to become a «new Japan» for the United States