US urges de-escalation over Ukraine offering Russia a diplomatic path

Russia has demanded NATO pull back troops and weapons from eastern Europe and bar its neighbour Ukraine, a former Soviet state, from ever joining

Russian soldiers attend a military exercising at the Golovenki training ground in the Moscow region, Russia. Picture: Alexei Ivanov/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP

The United States said on Wednesday it had set out a diplomatic path to address sweeping Russian demands in eastern Europe, as Moscow held security talks with Western countries and intensified its military build-up near Ukraine with new drills.

In a written response to Russia's demands delivered in person by its ambassador in Moscow, the US repeated its commitment to upholding NATO's "open-door" policy while offering a "principled and pragmatic evaluation" of the Kremlin's concerns, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.