The Fort Worth Press - Can the US and Russia find a diplomatic 'off-ramp' on Ukraine?

USD -
AED 3.673029
AFN 69.901592
ALL 94.336007
AMD 393.250352
ANG 1.79454
AOA 918.000244
ARS 1017.283952
AUD 1.597636
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.699053
BAM 1.874072
BBD 2.010521
BDT 118.990811
BGN 1.87539
BHD 0.375715
BIF 2943.915831
BMD 1
BND 1.352325
BOB 6.880923
BRL 6.080703
BSD 0.995774
BTN 84.654229
BWP 13.762804
BYN 3.258689
BYR 19600
BZD 2.00161
CAD 1.43535
CDF 2869.999725
CHF 0.893015
CLF 0.035848
CLP 989.150008
CNY 7.2979
CNH 7.30276
COP 4390
CRC 502.39074
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 105.658298
CZK 24.048498
DJF 177.317197
DKK 7.14363
DOP 60.635678
DZD 134.77161
EGP 50.839403
ERN 15
ETB 124.126733
EUR 0.957855
FJD 2.31705
FKP 0.791982
GBP 0.794499
GEL 2.810291
GGP 0.791982
GHS 14.637652
GIP 0.791982
GMD 71.99981
GNF 8602.830559
GTQ 7.672406
GYD 208.324949
HKD 7.76927
HNL 25.276684
HRK 7.172906
HTG 130.26897
HUF 396.50966
IDR 16141
ILS 3.64074
IMP 0.791982
INR 84.98515
IQD 1304.414484
IRR 42087.502803
ISK 138.990394
JEP 0.791982
JMD 155.795747
JOD 0.7091
JPY 156.525017
KES 128.550148
KGS 86.999866
KHR 4001.494811
KMF 466.124982
KPW 899.999441
KRW 1450.919862
KWD 0.30795
KYD 0.829812
KZT 522.944395
LAK 21794.540106
LBP 89168.367494
LKR 292.350591
LRD 180.728433
LSL 18.332231
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.892632
MAD 10.021656
MDL 18.341143
MGA 4698.115196
MKD 58.963598
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3397.99987
MOP 7.97156
MRU 39.601
MUR 47.201488
MVR 15.40234
MWK 1726.205872
MXN 20.06779
MYR 4.484945
MZN 63.903729
NAD 18.332231
NGN 1546.449571
NIO 36.642041
NOK 11.30141
NPR 135.44715
NZD 1.767284
OMR 0.384703
PAB 0.995774
PEN 3.707899
PGK 4.037907
PHP 58.624503
PKR 277.163787
PLN 4.080338
PYG 7764.394745
QAR 3.629996
RON 4.767304
RSD 112.080183
RUB 102.879543
RWF 1388.066423
SAR 3.756601
SBD 8.383555
SCR 13.934324
SDG 601.508506
SEK 11.013195
SGD 1.354555
SHP 0.791982
SLE 22.798616
SLL 20969.503029
SOS 569.08232
SRD 35.13097
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.713025
SYP 2512.530243
SZL 18.327728
THB 34.268001
TJS 10.893341
TMT 3.51
TND 3.172929
TOP 2.342097
TRY 35.190785
TTD 6.758272
TWD 32.685801
TZS 2414.99981
UAH 41.761098
UGX 3652.705513
UYU 44.413143
UZS 12838.129186
VES 51.475232
VND 25435
VUV 118.722003
WST 2.762788
XAF 628.546104
XAG 0.033647
XAU 0.000381
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.759575
XOF 628.546104
XPF 114.276406
YER 250.374974
ZAR 18.292955
ZMK 9001.202676
ZMW 27.557229
ZWL 321.999592
  • CMSD

    0.0000

    23.56

    0%

  • BCC

    -0.2600

    122.75

    -0.21%

  • RBGPF

    59.9600

    59.96

    +100%

  • SCS

    -0.5800

    11.74

    -4.94%

  • NGG

    0.8200

    58.5

    +1.4%

  • RELX

    -0.3100

    45.47

    -0.68%

  • RIO

    -0.0900

    58.64

    -0.15%

  • GSK

    0.1700

    33.6

    +0.51%

  • CMSC

    0.0200

    23.86

    +0.08%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    23.16

    +0.22%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    7.27

    -0.14%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    8.39

    +0.12%

  • BTI

    0.1131

    36.24

    +0.31%

  • AZN

    0.9100

    65.35

    +1.39%

  • JRI

    0.1100

    12.06

    +0.91%

  • BP

    0.1900

    28.6

    +0.66%

Can the US and Russia find a diplomatic 'off-ramp' on Ukraine?
Can the US and Russia find a diplomatic 'off-ramp' on Ukraine?

Can the US and Russia find a diplomatic 'off-ramp' on Ukraine?

The United States has called for a diplomatic solution with Russia to resolve a crisis over Ukraine, but in public at least, the two powers remain deeply at odds.

Text size:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday in Geneva as tens of thousands of Russian troops remain stationed on Ukraine's borders.

Blinken, on a solidarity visit to Kyiv on Wednesday, called on Moscow to choose the "peaceful path" on Ukraine, with a US official saying the talks in Geneva will explore "diplomatic off-ramps" with Russia.

But Moscow has put forward unusually detailed draft security proposals to which Blinken said he will not formally respond, hoping instead to explore areas of cooperation.

- Arms control path? -

President Joe Biden's administration has said it is willing to look forward with Russia by taking up arms control or agreeing to greater transparency on military exercises.

In initial talks last week in Geneva, Blinken's deputy, Wendy Sherman, proposed a return in substance to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a Cold War deal that limited missiles in Europe.

Former president Donald Trump's administration withdrew from the treaty, accusing Moscow of violations.

Blinken said in Kyiv there were "areas where clearly, if there is a will, we could make progress on a reciprocal basis to improve security for everyone".

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who met with Sherman, appeared positive that Washington was discussing the treaty but regretted that the discussion was tied to Ukraine.

- 'Non-starter' on NATO -

Ryabkov, addressing the Valdai Discussion Club, said Russia wanted legally binding guarantees that NATO will not expand to include Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that has faced a bloody pro-Russia insurgency since 2014.

He called for the formal replacement of the NATO alliance's 2008 Bucharest declaration that opened a path for Ukraine as well as Georgia to join eventually.

"We are seeing a threat from Ukraine becoming more and more integrated into NATO even without becoming a formal member of the organisation. This is what lies at the centre of Russia's security interests," he said.

Blinken called slamming the door on NATO expansion a "non-starter", saying that "one nation can't simply dictate to another its choice."

Bill Taylor, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, doubted there was any way to resolve the differences on NATO.

The Biden administration "has not blinked, despite all the pressure and temptation, and in my view they are not going to blink," said Taylor, now at the US Institute of Peace.

"To do that would be to treat Ukraine not as a sovereign state," he told AFP.

But he said the INF Treaty offered a way forward so long as Putin pulls back from invading.

"If indeed he would like to have a conversation on his security concerns, the United States and NATO have both indicated that they are very willing."

- A new way? -

Despite US statements, few expect Ukraine or Georgia to enter NATO anytime soon, with Europeans in particular loath to commit to defending nations already in conflict with Russia.

In a recent essay, Thomas Graham, a top official under former president George W. Bush, and academic Rajan Menon, suggested a formal moratorium in the accession of Ukraine or any other former Soviet republic for 20 to 25 years.

They wrote in Politico that such a deal would require "lots of imagination and skilled wordsmithing" and face plenty of opposition.

But, they wrote, "Moscow may accept this compromise because it knows that NATO will never agree to an outright ban."

Steven Pifer of the Brookings Institution in an essay noted that any change in the open-door policy would again require consensus -- meaning all 30 NATO members would need to agree with Russia.

But "a middle ground of 'not now but not never' might offer a way to kick this thorny can down the road. That is, if Moscow wishes to defuse the situation."

burs-sct/acl/bp/ach

J.M.Ellis--TFWP