U.S. Offers Russia Talks, Eyes Sanctions --- A week of discussions opened Sunday night aimed at defusing tensions over Ukraine

"WASHINGTON -- As the Biden administration and U.S. allies begin contentious talks with Moscow this week, Western officials are eyeing significant financial punishments and targeted technology sanctions if Russia sends troops across the Ukrainian border, while likely avoiding the broadest energy and bank sanctions, according to people familiar with the matter.

To encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to de-escalate the situation, the Biden administration is also prepared to discuss limits on intermediate-range missiles in Europe as well as reciprocal restrictions on the scope of military exercises on the continent, U.S. officials said.

"There are two paths before us," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday on CNN. "There's a path of dialogue and diplomacy to try to resolve some of these differences and avoid a confrontation. The other path is confrontation and massive consequences for Russia if it renews its aggression on Ukraine."

Should Mr. Putin send troops over the border, U.S. officials have considered measures to curb Russian energy exports or expel the country from the dollar-denominated international financial system, according to people familiar with the deliberations. But those measures risk raising energy prices for U.S. consumers already struggling with high inflation, as well as hurting European economies that have deeper trade and financial ties to Russia's, officials and analysts say.

"A compelling economic pinch on Russia squeezes the West," said Kevin Book, an energy analyst at ClearView Energy Partners LLC.

So the U.S. is also looking at more targeted measures, including erecting export barriers to block international sales to Russia of products with a certain percentage of American content, as well as preventing Moscow from getting access to cutting-edge microchips used in everything from aircraft to consumer electronics, according to people familiar with the matter. Even though U.S. exports to Russia totaled just $4.9 billion in 2020, imposing the type of export controls used against Cuba and semiconductor restrictions used against China would exact an economic toll and hurt efforts to modernize the economy, they said.

High-level talks with Moscow began Sunday night, when Mr. Blinken's deputy, Wendy Sherman, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, and military officials on both sides met in Geneva, a State Department spokesman said. On Monday, those officials will meet again to discuss broad strategic security matters. On Wednesday, Russian officials will sit down in Brussels for a rare meeting with officials from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Moscow has mobilized more than 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine, prompting fears Mr. Putin intends to invade territory he considers part of historic Russia or is generating a crisis to extract concessions from NATO.

Mr. Putin says he has the right to move troops around in Russian territory and has demanded NATO rule out letting Ukraine join the bloc and sever military ties to Ukraine and other former Soviet countries.

But NATO and the U.S. insist that any country that wants to can join the alliance.

A breakthrough on Ukraine is unlikely, in part because the Biden administration has said it won't discuss the country's future without Kyiv at the table.

"If things go properly, almost nothing happens in Geneva, because Moscow is insisting on major concessions in Europe that we cannot possibly give," said John Herbst, a former ambassador to Ukraine and to Uzbekistan." [1]

 

The person who will replace the inadequate Gabrielius Landsbergis in the chair of the Foreign Minister should be sent to the United States to learn to choose such economic sanctions that would be less harmful to the Lithuanian people than what Gabrielius Landsbergis is doing now. 

 

1. World News: U.S. Offers Russia Talks, Eyes Sanctions --- A week of discussions opened Sunday night aimed at defusing tensions over Ukraine
Mauldin, William; Gordon, Michael R; Puko, Timothy. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 10 Jan 2022: A.8.