US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met today with his Russian counterpart to personally warn him of the "serious consequences" that Russia would suffer if it attacked Ukraine and urged him to seek a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
Blinken issued the warning to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a meeting in Stockholm, a day after announcing that Washington was ready to respond decisively, including with painful sanctions in the event of a Russian attack.
"The best way to avoid a crisis is through diplomacy," Blinken told reporters before meeting his Russian counterpart, Reuters reported.
He stressed that Moscow and Kiev should fulfill their obligations under the 2014 Minsk peace process designed to end the war between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces in the east of the former Soviet republic.
Blinken said Washington is ready to help with that, but "if Russia decides to go down the path of confrontation, the consequences will be serious."
Lavrov told reporters that Moscow is ready for dialogue with Kyiv.
"We, as President (Vladimir) Putin said, do not want any conflicts," Lavrov said.
He and Blinken spoke for about half an hour on the sidelines of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting in Stockholm, the highest-level contact between the two sides since the summit between Putin and US President Joe Biden in June.
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