Russia, US take tough stands ahead of more talks on Ukraine

By DASHA LITVINOVA and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Moscow and Washington both have taken uncompromising stands ahead of more talks amid a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine. The U.S. has rebuffed a demand to halt NATO expansion and the Kremlin says it will see if it’s worthwhile to even keep negotiating. At Monday’s talks in Geneva, Russia insisted on guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations and demanded to roll back the military alliance’s deployments in Eastern Europe. The U.S. firmly rejected the demands, and the U.S. envoy to NATO ruled out any concessions on the alliance’s eastward expansion ahead of Russia-NATO talks Wednesday. The Kremlin said Russia would wait for the outcome of this week’s talks before deciding whether it’s worth continuing negotiations.