Russia says Ukraine talks hit 'dead end', Poland warns of risk of war
(VOVWORLD) - Poland's foreign minister said on Thursday that Europe was at risk of plunging into war as Russia said it was not yet giving up on diplomacy but that military experts were preparing options in case tensions over Ukraine could not be defused.
 A sniper of the Russian armed forces takes part in military exercises at the Kadamovsky range in the Rostov region, Russia January 13, 2022. (Photo: REUTERS) |
Russia said dialogue was continuing but was hitting a dead end as it tried to persuade the West to bar Ukraine from joining NATO and roll back decades of alliance expansion in Europe - demands that the United States has called "non-starters".
"At this stage it is really disappointing," Russian Ambassador Alexander Lukashevich told reporters after a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). He warned of possible "catastrophic consequences" if the two sides could not agree on what Russia has termed security red lines but said Moscow had not given up on diplomacy and would even speed it up.
Earlier, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau told the 57-nation security forum: "It seems that the risk of war in the OSCE area is now greater than ever before in the last 30 years."
Russia denies plans to invade Ukraine but its military build-up has forced the United States and its allies to the negotiating table.