US, Russia still far apart over Ukraine

Russia and the United States remained far apart on Monday in Geneva after talks aimed at defusing tensions over Ukraine, with Moscow insisting on guarantees to halt NATO's eastward expansion and roll back the military alliance's deployments in Eastern Europe, and Washington firmly rejecting the demands as nonstarters.

While the US called their latest talks "our diplomacy in pursuit of a de-escalation with Russia", the Russian side called them "US-Russia security guarantees negotiations".

Like the two previous rounds of bilateral strategic stability talks in the Swiss city last year, the US delegation was headed by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, while the Russian side was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov.

"The talks were difficult, long, very professional, deep, concrete, without attempts to gloss over some sharp edges," Ryabkov told a news conference after more than seven hours of negotiations.

Sherman told a separate news conference: "We had a frank and forthright discussion over the course of nearly eight hours at the US Mission in Geneva."

Ryabkov was quoted by the Russian Mission in Geneva on Monday as saying that what Moscow seeks is legally binding guarantees that NATO won't expand further to the east.

"It should dismantle everything it has created while driven by anti-Russia phobias and delusional perceptions about our country's policies since 1997," he was quoted as saying.

Ryabkov told reporters that "the main questions are still up in the air, and we don't see an understanding from the American side of the necessity of a decision in a way that satisfies us".

Guarantees, not assurances

"We do not trust the other side," he said. "We need ironclad, waterproof, bulletproof, legally binding guarantees－not assurances, not safeguards."

He said that he told Sherman that Russia has no plans to attack Ukraine, and there was no reason to fear an escalation of tensions with Ukraine.

But Sherman insisted that some of Russia's demands were "simply nonstarters", including a ban on NATO's further eastward expansion.

"We will not allow anyone to slam close NATO's open-door policy," Sherman said.

"We've made it clear that if Russia further invades Ukraine, there will be significant costs and consequences well beyond what they faced in 2014. Russia has a stark choice to make," she said.

Ryabkov denounced Washington's threats as "attempts at blackmail and intimidation". But he added: "I don't think the situation is hopeless."

Yuri Rogulev, director of the Franklin Roosevelt Foundation for US Studies at Moscow State University, said the US deliberately sought to stoke tensions in the media through constant leaks about Russia's alleged preparations for invading Ukraine in order to strengthen its own position and let Moscow see what it should expect if the situation deteriorates.

Russia, in turn, was not escalating the situation, only showing its ability to respond to US allegations, the Russian scholar said.

Monday's talks in Geneva launched a week of diplomacy between Russia and the West after the Cold War-style standoff over Ukraine.

A meeting of the NATO-Russia Council was scheduled to take place in Brussels on Wednesday, then the permanent council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe would meet in Vienna on Thursday with the issue of Ukraine expected to dominate.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington does not expect that "any breakthroughs could be achieved or really even contemplated" in this week's talks.

Andrey Kortunov, director general of the Russian International Affairs Council, said that in the talks the West would likely "try and shift the discourse toward tactical and situational decisions" to help decrease tensions.

"That is, they will attempt to discuss confidence-building measures and de-escalation along the contact line," he said. "At the same time, they will demand that Russian forces withdraw from the Ukrainian border. It is difficult to say if this position of 'small matters' is sufficient for Moscow."

He added: "We are sticking to our guns that our proposal to halt NATO's eastward expansion should not be ignored."

Agencies and Xinhua contributed to this story.