Monitoring Desk: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Moscow of the “severe costs” Russia would pay if it invaded Ukraine while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Moscow would respond if Ukraine gets drawn into any U.S “geopolitical games”.
Both held talks in Stockholm after the situation intensified in eastern Ukraine bordering Russia.
Ukraine claims Russia has collected around 90,000 troops near Ukraine border, while Moscow accuses Kyiv of gathering over 125,000 troops at the same border.
US urged Russia to fulfil Minsk agreements which were signed to stop the ongoing conflict between the pro-Russian separatists and the Kyiv administration.
The agreements included a cease-fire in the region and a prisoner exchange while also allowing the Kyiv administration to make a constitutional amendment that would give Donbass special status.
The pro-Russian separatists were supposed to withdraw their weapons from the Ukrainian-Russian border.
However, the agreements’ implementation has been hampered as the two sides accuse each other of violating the cease-fire.
Ukraine is waiting to become a member of the European Union as well as of the NATO family while Russia sliced Crimea and pro-Russian separatists got control of several parts of eastern Ukraine since 2014.
