Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France are planning to have discussions without the United States on Tuesday on the subject of eastern Ukraine, a source in Russian President Vladimir Putin's Administration said Saturday, according to Reuters.
The four-way Normandy format peace talks are aimed at helping end a long-running conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists.
The world is on edge as tension increases in the region. The four-way peace negotiations planned this week come during increased tensions between Russia and the Western nations over Ukraine and are pursuing a solution to the long-running conflict between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists.
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Ukraine chief negotiator Andriy Yermak's adviser Mykhailo Podolyak had assured that a meeting in Paris was planned but told Reuters that a prior date had been established for January 26 before the January 25 meeting date was decided.
According to Reuters, "Western countries are concerned by a Russia military build-up on the border and have warned of severe economic consequences if it invaded its neighbor. Russia denies it plans to invade Ukraine but is demanding legally binding security guarantees from the United States and NATO."
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"Relations between Russia and Ukraine collapsed in 2014 after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine and Moscow-backed forces seized territory in the Donbass region that Kyiv wants back," Reuters explains in the report.
Reuters further reports that Dmitri Kozak, who is Russia's top negotiator, will be representing Russia in the discussion, according to the report's source.
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According to TASS, the Russian news agency, the United States has previously voiced interest in joining these peace negotiations.
During a press conference Wednesday, American President Joe Biden was asked about how the United States plans to handle any Russian invasion of Ukraine. In response to Biden's answer, it was reported that officials in Kyiv were "shocked" and "stunned" by the statements, deemed a "green light" to Putin.
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White House press secretary Jen Psaki couldn't give an exact number when she was asked Friday how many Americans are currently in Ukraine. The Biden spokeswoman was grilled on U.S. readiness to evacuate Americans from Ukraine.
The meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his U.S. counterpart Antony Blinken on January 21 follows on from the previous week’s intensive talks: the first round of U.S.-Russian dialogue on European security issues in Geneva, followed by sessions of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels and the OSCE Standing Committee in Vienna. The extremely tough talks that took place last week in Europe didn’t end in a public scandal or definitive rupture, nor did they inspire confidence that the ongoing European security crisis can be resolved any time soon.
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The lack of a diplomatic solution will logically lead to an escalation of the crisis, and increase the chances that the only way out of it will be through the use of what Russian officials call “military-technical means.”
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