Policy Alert #244 | January 28, 2022
As more than 100,000 Russian troops amass near Ukraine’s borders, tensions between Ukraine and Russia are heightening. Vladimir Putin has defended the troop buildup, calling it a mere “military exercise.” However, in 2014 Russia invaded Crimea, raising fears in the West that Putin’s recent actions are in preparation for another invasion.
On January 21, 2022, US and Russian diplomats met in Geneva to avoid conflict in Ukraine. No major breakthroughs were made but the two sides agreed to continue dialogue. “Based on the conversations we’ve had… I think there are… a means to address some of the mutual concerns that we have about security,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated. But he also warned, “If any Russian military forces move across Ukraine’s border… it will be met with swift, severe and a united response from the United States and our partners and allies.”
Moscow issued Washington a set of demands, including guarantees that NATO will halt its eastward expansion, rule out membership for Ukraine and other former Soviet countries, and roll back its military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe. The US has delivered the written response Russia requested, in which Blinken confirmed that the US rejected Moscow’s central demand that NATO never admit Ukraine. A follow-up discussion with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected in the coming days now that the document is under review in Moscow.
