U.S. State Department Representative Ned PriceWASHINGTON, Jan 24The United States is open to new contact with Russia at the level of heads of diplomatic departments, if such interaction will benefit the resolution of the current crisis around Ukraine, State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Monday. After that, we are open to additional face-to-face interaction, if such, from our point of view, turns out to be useful and constructive as part of our diplomatic efforts,» Price said, answering a question about Washington's readiness to hold a new meeting between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov .
The United States increases the readiness of troops on its territory and abroadThe last meeting between Lavrov and Blinken was held last Friday in Geneva at the initiative of the American side and was devoted to discussing the current European security crisis. Then the head of the Russian department said that he was planning a new contact with the US Secretary of State after receiving answers to Russian proposals. At the end of 2021, Russia published drafts of a treaty with the United States and an agreement with NATO on security guarantees. Moscow, in particular, demands from its Western partners legal guarantees of refusing further eastward expansion of NATO, joining the Ukrainian bloc, and establishing military bases in post-Soviet countries. The proposals also contain a clause on the non-deployment of NATO strike weapons near Russia's borders and the withdrawal of alliance forces in Eastern Europe to the positions of 1997. The first meeting between the Russian Federation and the United States, dedicated to dialogue on Russian initiatives, was held on January 10 at the level of deputy heads of foreign affairs agencies. This was followed by a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels and consultations at the Vienna site of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. In continuation of the discussions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken held talks in Geneva on January 21. diplomatic solution to the situation in Ukraine
