Officials from Washington and the Kremlin will sit down for “strategic security” talks next month as tension over Russia’s military buildup on the Ukrainian border continues to mount.
“The United States looks forward to engaging with Russia,” a spokesperson for the National Security Council told Fox News Tuesday. “When we sit down to talk, Russia can put its concerns on the table, and we will put our concerns on the table.
“There will be areas where we can make progress, and areas where we will disagree. That’s what diplomacy is about,” the spokesman added.
The announcement comes just one week after geopolitical tensions hit a boiling point not seen since the Cold War during which top officials in the Kremlin levied unfounded accusations that some experts feared would be used to legitimize a Ukrainian invasion.
Russia has amassed 100,000 troops along its shared border with Ukraine, though Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday claimed he does not want confrontation with the former soviet state. The Russian president instead demanded security guarantees from the West that Ukraine be denied access as a member nation of NATO – citing alleged security threats it could pose to Russia.
