NATO weighs Russia's security offer to end Ukraine standoff

BRUSSELS – NATO overseas ministers connected Friday discussed Russia’s subject build-up astir Ukraine amid skepticism astir the credibility of President Vladimir Putin’s connection to easiness tensions, up of a week of high-level diplomacy aimed astatine ending the standoff.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterparts held online talks to hole for the archetypal gathering of the NATO-Russia Council successful much than 2 years. That gathering connected Wednesday successful Brussels volition springiness NATO ambassadors the accidental to sermon Putin’s information proposals with Russia’s envoy look to face.

It’s each portion of a flurry of meetings involving NATO, elder U.S. and Russian officials and the Organization for Security and Cooperation successful Europe acceptable for adjacent week.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that it's important to talk with Russia astir its concerns, and that helium volition speech again with Putin “in the coming days.”

"Dialogue does not mean giving in,” Macron told reporters successful Paris astatine an lawsuit to people the commencement of France's six-month word astatine the helm of the European Union.

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Much contained successful the documents that Moscow has made nationalist — a draft agreement with NATO countries and the connection of a treaty betwixt Russia and the United States — appears to beryllium a non-starter astatine the 30-country subject organization, contempt fears that Putin mightiness bid an penetration of Ukraine.

NATO would person to hold to halt each rank plans, not conscionable with Ukraine, and extremity subject exercises adjacent to Russia’s borders. In exchange, Russia would respect the planetary commitments it’s signed up to connected limiting wargames, and extremity craft buzzing incidents and different low-level hostilities.

Endorsing specified an statement would necessitate NATO to cull a cardinal portion of its founding treaty. Under Article 10 of the 1949 Washington Treaty, the enactment tin invitation successful immoderate consenting European state that tin lend to information successful the North Atlantic area, arsenic good arsenic fulfil the obligations of membership.

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Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula successful 2014 and aboriginal backed a separatist rebellion successful the country’s east. Over much than 7 years, the warring has killed implicit 14,000 radical and devastated Ukraine’s concern heartland, known arsenic the Donbas.

Russia denies that it has caller plans to onslaught its neighbor, but Putin wants ineligible guarantees that would regularisation retired NATO enlargement and weapons deployments. Moscow says it expects answers to its information proposals this month.

The NATO-Russia Council was acceptable up 2 decades ago. But NATO ended practice with Russia done the NRC successful 2014 aft it annexed Crimea. Wednesday’s gathering volition beryllium the archetypal since July 2019. NATO officials accidental Russia has refused to instrumentality portion successful meetings arsenic agelong arsenic Ukraine was connected the agenda.

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AP writers Samuel Petrequin and Sylvie Corbet successful Paris contributed to this report.

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