Russia says it’s ‘disappointed’ by US and NATO signals before Geneva talks

Russia said on Sunday it would not make any concessions under U.S. pressure at talks this week on the Ukraine crisis and its demands for Western security guarantees, and that there was a risk they might end quickly, the RIA news agency reported.

“We will not agree to any concession. That is completely excluded,” Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian news agencies. “We are disappointed with the signals coming in the last few days from Washington but also from Brussels.”

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Moscow said on Sunday it was “disappointed” by signals from Washington and Brussels on the eve of talks in Geneva and that the United States was insisting on unilateral Russian concessions, the Interfax and RIA news agencies reported.

Talks between US and Russian diplomats begin in Geneva on Monday after a weeks-long standoff over Russian troop deployments near its border with Ukraine, with veteran envoys on each side trying to avert a crisis.

Interfax quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying Moscow was not optimistic going into the talks.

Read more: NATO rules out any halt to expansion, despite Russia demand on Ukraine