U.S. sends Russia letter on security demands: 'The ball is in their court'

Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
(Image credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

The United States sent a letter to Russia addressing the country's security demands, but did not make any concessions, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.

The missive is "a serious diplomatic path forward," Blinken said, and is the latest attempt to cool tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The letter's contents won't be made public, Blinken added, but he did say it mentions Russia's demand that Ukraine be barred from joining NATO. "NATO's door is open, remains open, and that is our commitment," Blinken said.

President Biden was "intimately involved" in writing the letter, Blinken said, and it made clear that the Biden administration is dedicated to helping Ukraine keep its sovereignty and "the right of states to choose their own security arrangements and alliances."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The letter does not contain "explicit proposals" and isn't "a formal negotiations document," Blinken said. "The ball is in their court," he added. "It remains up to Russia how to decide to respond. We're ready either way."

In addition to permanently banning Ukraine from NATO, Russia wants a rollback of NATO military deployments in Eastern Europe. Earlier Wednesday, Moscow said if its security demands are not met, it would take "retaliatory measures."

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.