KIEV, January 20. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s urgent visit to Kiev has pointed to Washington’s attempts to find a compromise on security issues with Russia, which could be Ukraine and its interests but in a mild version, Head of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics Ruslan Bortnik told TASS following the press conference between Blinken and Ukrainian top diplomat Dmitry Kuleba held on Wednesday.

"Blinken, as well as the US diplomacy, are urgently looking for the ways to stabilize the situation, for models of compromises with Russia. One of such [solutions] can definitely be Ukraine. Currently, Kiev very fears it and suspects that Moscow and Washington are ready to reach compromises, including on security, at the cost of Ukraine and the Ukrainian leadership’s interests," the expert noted.

Bortnik believes that Blinken and the Ukrainian leadership also addressed certain proposals relating to the implementation of the Minsk agreements. "Probably, Blinken urged Kiev to accept these proposals," the political scientist assumed. However, the expert doubted that the US asked Ukraine for unconditional implementation of the agreements, in particular of the political part, on which Russia and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics insisted. "I do not think that the West is ready to demand this from Ukraine now," the expert said.

Moscow’s proposals on security guarantees

The West and Kiev have recently been spreading allegations about Russia’s potential ‘invasion’ of Ukraine. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov castigated these claims as "empty and unfounded," serving as a ploy to escalate tensions, pointing out that Russia did not pose any threat whatsoever to anyone. However, Peskov did not rule out the possibility of provocations aimed at justifying such allegations and warned that attempts to use military force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have very serious consequences.

On December 17, 2021, the Russian Foreign Ministry released a draft agreement on security guarantees between Russia and the United States and a draft agreement on ensuring the security of Russia and NATO member states. Russia-US consultations on this issue took place in Geneva on January 10, followed by a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels on January 12 and a session of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Permanent Council in Vienna on January 13.

On Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that preparations for the meeting between Russian top diplomat Lavrov and US Secretary of State Blinken, scheduled for January 21 in Geneva, were underway.