Ambassador Says US Sanctions Threats Won't Intimidate Russia, OSCE Talks Kick Off Today

LOCAL NEWS

• Russia set to meet with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe member states to discuss its demands for security guarantees.
  • Russia heads into talks having found little common ground in negotiations with the US & NATO, other than to resume the dialogue. Ukraine and the Minsk agreements will be the focus of this meeting, but again, no major breakthroughs are expected
• Ambassador Antonov says Russia won’t be intimidated by ‘crippling’ sanctions as such pressure shows the inability of the US to defend its point of view at the negotiating table in a reasoned manner.
  • Says Russia is awaiting a response to its written statements that the US said would be provided next week. Russia has said it awaits this response from the US and NATO before deciding whether to resume talks or move to other measures to ensure national security
• Democratic Senators proposed sanctions on Russia in the event of an invasion of Ukraine – targeting Putin and top officials, Russian banks, Nord Stream 2 and the SWIFT system.
  • If the bill comes into force, Biden will have to determine, within 15 days at the most, whether Russia or one of its "controlled forces" is carrying out a serious escalation or hostile actions against Ukraine.
  • Biden will need to find out whether the purpose of such an escalation is "undermining the work, displacing or disbanding the leadership of Ukraine, or the occupation of Ukrainian territory, undermining the sovereignty or territorial integrity of Ukraine."
  • Russia’s actions will be assessed every 90-days during the first year of implementation