WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Russian and US foreign ministers are set to hold fresh talks Tuesday after a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine, with Washington vowing to work with Western allies to beef up
sanctions should Moscow decide to invade its neighbour.
Russia announced Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will speak with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“Lavrov and Blinken will have a telephone conversation on Tuesday,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a press briefing.
The upcoming call is the latest in a flurry of diplomatic meetings between senior diplomats from Moscow, Brussels and Washington over the conflict in Ukraine and disagreements over security concerns in Europe.
The United States and Britain on Sunday flagged new and “devastating” economic sanctions against Russia, as Washington and its allies step up efforts to deter any invasion.
In LONDON, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Britain would unveil sanctions legislation targeting “a much wider variety” of Russian economic targets.
The Kremlin denounced Britain’s move as an “undisguised attack on business”.
“The Anglo-Saxons are massively ramping up tensions on the European continent.”
Western leaders are pursuing a two-pronged approach, stepping up military assistance to Ukraine but also undertaking a full-court diplomatic effort to defuse the crisis.
Relations between Russia and the West are at their lowest point since the Cold War.
In the face of the Russian build-up, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the West to tone down the rhetoric.
That plea, from a country also eager for Western support — particularly since Moscow seized Crimea in 2014 and began fueling a deadly separatist conflict in the country’s east — has raised eyebrows in Washington. — NNN-AGENCIES
