No reason for optimism yet after Russia-US talks: Kremlin

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) – Talks between Russia and the US on security guarantees have so far given no reason for optimism, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

Russia and the US kicked off talks in Geneva on Monday on a range of issues, including the Ukraine situation, NATO’s eastward expansion, nuclear weapons control, cybercrime, and other bilateral matters.

At a daily briefing in Moscow, Peskov told reporters that there will be several more rounds of consultations that will allow the two sides to better understand their respective positions.

“It would be naive to believe that one round of negotiations will give an exhaustive result,” he said, adding that “work will be continued.”

On direct talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden, Peskov said “there is no readiness for a high-level conversation.”

The Geneva talks are being held after Putin called on NATO last month to start dialogue to provide Russia with reliable, legally binding, and long-term security guarantees.

After the first round of consultations on Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said the talks were “difficult, deep, professional and concrete.”

“We were able to talk about issues that previously seemed to be invisibly present … sort of behind the scenes. Everyone understood that they exist but pretended that it was better not to deal with them, and now things are called by their proper names, and this in itself has a healing effect on our relations with the West,” he said.