The latest on tensions at the Ukraine-Russia border

The Russian foreign ministry reiterated its security demand to the US and NATO, asking for a complete withdrawal of foreign forces from NATO member states Bulgaria and Romania, the Russian foreign ministry said on Friday.

Both Bulgaria and Romania are on the Black Sea — close to Russia’s area of influence. Romania also borders Ukraine. 

The ministry said Moscow’s position was very clear and didn’t leave room for “ambiguous interpretations.”

On Thursday, the Dutch defense minister told parliament that the Netherlands would deploy two F-35 jets, along with support staff, to Bulgaria to increase NATO’s defense and deterrence capabilities in the region, in light of Russian troop build-up around Ukraine.

The deployment is expected to take place in April-May. The country also made available to NATO an amphibious transport ship. 

The Spanish minister of defense also offered to send fighter jets to Bulgaria and a warship to the Black Sea in light of the rising tensions.

Russia has been sending military equipment to bolster pro-Moscow separatists in the Donbass region, the Ukrainian Defense ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The statement added: “The enemy units are being strengthened through the network of recruitment centers in Russia, who are actively recruiting mercenaries and sending them to the temporarily occupied territory in Donetsk and Luhansk regions after undergoing intensive training courses in training centers."

Some background:

Ukraine insists Russia is seeking to destabilize the country with the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, recently saying a coup plot, involving Ukrainians and Russians, had been uncovered.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned that a planned coup could be part of Russia's plan ahead of a military invasion. "External military pressure goes hand in hand with domestic destabilization of the country," he said.

Tensions between the two countries have been exacerbated by a deepening Ukrainian energy crisis that Kyiv believes Moscow has purposefully provoked.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said US is "fully prepared" for another Biden-Putin summit “if it proves useful and productive.”

The meeting lasted an hour and a half. Blinken held his press conference after Lavrov.

The top US diplomat said that after the US shares its written responses to Russia’s concerns, there will be further conversations “at least at the level of foreign ministers.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said contact with the United States will continue and did not rule out a Biden-Putin summit.

“We’re waiting for their official answer [to Russian security demands],” Lavrov said during a press conference after a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “We're planning another conversation at our ministerial level.”

He concluded, “we need to understand what will happen before we go to the presidential level."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow never threatened Ukraine or its people, despite the massive military build-up near its borders. 

“Russia never once, nowhere, never threatened the Ukrainian people through the mouths of its official representatives,” Lavrov told journalists after meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Some background: The Kremlin has consistently denied that it is planning to attack Ukraine and argues that NATO support for Ukraine — including increased weapons supplies and military training — constitutes a growing threat on Russia's western flank.

Meanwhile, the US and NATO have described the movements and concentrations of troops in and around Ukraine as "unusual." As many as 100,000 Russian troops have remained amassed at the Ukrainian border. US intelligence findings in December estimated that Russia could begin a military offensive in Ukraine "as soon as early 2022."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US will share its concerns with Russia “in more detail, and in writing next week,” after an hour-and-a-half long meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva on Friday.

The US and Russia “agreed to further discussions after that,” Blinken said.

Going into this meeting in Geneva, Blinken had said he had no plans on presenting Lavrov with written responses, as Russia has been calling for.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said his meeting today with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva was “not a negotiation,” but was instead “a candid exchange of concerns and ideas.”

Blinken said there was “no trade space” when it came to the principle of “the sovereign right of the Ukrainian people to write their own future.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a meeting in Geneva, Friday that Washington is committed to a "united, swift and severe response" if Moscow commits further aggression against Ukraine.

The two top diplomats ended their hour and a half bilateral meeting Friday, during which the US tried to convince Russia to de-escalate the situation at the Ukrainian border where Russia has amassed tens of thousands of troops and shown signs of a potential invasion into Ukraine.

"We are, all of us, all equally committed to the path of diplomacy and dialogue to try to resolve our differences," Blinken said Friday. "But we're also committed, if that proves impossible and Russia decides to pursue aggression against Ukraine, to a united, swift and severe response."

At a news conference following the meeting with Blinken, Lavrov said that the US had agreed to send written answers to all of Russia's security demands.

Both sides admitted before their talks that neither was expecting a breakthrough on Russia's security demands, which the US and allies have deemed nonstarters.

Blinken reiterated he didn't expect the US and Russia to resolve their differences in the meeting but said he hoped to keep a diplomatic path to addressing those issues open.

"We're committed to walking that path and resolving our differences peacefully," he said.

Blinken's meeting with Lavrov on Friday followed his meetings in Berlin with his German, UK and French counterparts and Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Geneva on Friday as the Russian threat toward Ukraine continues to loom.

The meeting lasted an hour and a half.

This was the first high-level meeting between Russia and the United States since the diplomatic engagements last week, which failed to deliver breakthroughs on the situation at Ukraine's border where Russia has amassed tens of thousands of troops.

After the meeting, the top US diplomat will then travel to Ukraine and Germany to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his foreign counterparts.