Political | Process

A senior diplomat told Secretary of State Antony Blinken just as trans-Atlantic officials offered a written proposal to avert a wider war in Ukraine without complying with Moscow’s ultimatum.

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• The security of one country cannot be at the expense of the security of other countries, and regional security cannot be guaranteed by strengthening or expanding military blocs,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Blinken in a late Wednesday call, according to local media. “Russia’s reasonable security concerns should be taken seriously and resolved.”

• Wang’s statement echoed Russian justifications for mobilizing forces near Ukrainian borders and publishing a “draft treaty” that would require NATO to close the door to any new members and ban U.S. and Western European militaries from operating on the territory of Eastern European allies.

• Blinken and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg rejected those demands on Wednesday, while offering a written proposal to launch talks on a series of other subjects that they hope Russian President Vladimir Putin might accept as an opportunity to defuse the threat of a major assault on Ukraine.

• “There are important things to work with if Russia is serious about working with them,” Blinken told reporters Wednesday.

• “But there’s no doubt in my mind that if Russia were to approach this seriously and in a spirit of reciprocity, with the determination to enhance collective security for all of us, there are very positive things in this document that should be pursued. We can’t make that decision for President Putin.”

SOURCE: WASHINGTONEXAMINER