Moscow-January 13 (Online): The Kremlin said Thursday that any US sanctions targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin personally would cross a line and could lead to a “rupture of ties”.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, senators from US President Joe Biden\u2019s Democratic Party threatened major consequences if Russia invaded Ukraine, including sanctions on Putin and Russian banks as well as $500 million in fresh security aid to Ukraine.<\/p>\n
“Introducing sanctions against a head of state is crossing a line and comparable to a rupture of ties,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.<\/p>\n
The United States and its NATO allies held talks this week with Russia to ease tensions over Ukraine, where tens of thousands of Russian troops have massed on the border.<\/p>\n
Two rounds of talks, in Geneva on Monday and Brussels on Wednesday, did not result in any breakthrough.<\/p>\n
Peskov said Thursday the Kremlin viewed the US draft sanctions “extremely negatively”, particularly with “unsuccessful” talks ongoing.<\/p>\n
He said the discussion of sanctions did little to create “a constructive atmosphere”.<\/p>\n
For the third round of talks, the world\u2019s largest security body, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, is meeting in Vienna on Thursday. Little breakthrough is expected there, too.<\/p>\n
Peskov said that Russia had no “shortage of political will” to continue meetings but reiterated that Moscow needed to see concrete results.<\/p>\n
He added that Moscow expected “concrete” written answers to Russia\u2019s security demands in the coming days.<\/p>\n
The high-stakes talks come amid fears of a Russian invasion of its pro-Western neighbour Ukraine. Moscow has demanded wide-ranging concessions from Washington and its NATO allies, which in turn have threatened severe sanctions for any attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Moscow-January 13 (Online): The Kremlin said Thursday that any US sanctions targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin personally would cross a line and could lead to a “rupture of ties”. On Wednesday, senators from US President Joe Biden\u2019s Democratic Party threatened major consequences if Russia invaded […]<\/p>\n
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