The top U.S. and Russian diplomats emerged from a 90-minute meeting in Geneva to discuss the standoff over Ukraine with little clear progress made but an agreement to keep talking.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. will soon send written responses to Russia addressing its concerns, while Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed Western “hysteria” over Ukraine and repeated that Moscow has no plans to attack its neighbor.
“If Russia wants to begin to convince the world that it has no aggressive intent toward Ukraine, a very good place to start would be deescalating,” Blinken said Friday at the end of a three-day European trip. The two sides agreed that negotiations should take place in a less emotional atmosphere, though Lavrov said he can’t say now whether talks are on the right path.
