GENEVA, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday after talks with the United States in Geneva that dialogue would continue on Moscow’s security demands and that he would expected written responses from Washington next week.

Speaking at a press conference after meeting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Lavrov said he hoped emotions would calm over Ukraine and repeated Russian claims that it does not posed no threat to its former Soviet neighbour.

Russia, which has tens of thousands of troops near the Ukrainian border and has sent troops to Belarus for joint military exercises, wants NATO to promise not to admit Ukraine as a member and has urged the Western military alliance to halt eastward expansion. NATO rejected the claims.

Describing Friday’s talks as open and helpful, Lavrov said Russia had no intention of attacking Ukraine and that President Vladimir Putin was still ready for contacts with US President Joe Biden, but that any contact had to be well prepared.

Blinken was to hold his own press conference.

Ahead of Friday’s talks, Blinken and Lavrov shook hands at the President Wilson Hotel in the Swiss city of Geneva and agreed they expected no breakthrough.

“But I hope and expect that we can test whether the path of diplomacy, of dialogue remains open. We are committed to walking this path, to resolving our differences peacefully and I hope to test this proposal today” , Blinken said.

Washington’s hopes of building a united opposition front in Moscow have been complicated by comments by US President Joe Biden at a press conference on Wednesday in which he predicted Russia would ‘intervene’ on Ukraine and declared that Moscow would pay dearly. Read more

Western states fear Moscow is planning a fresh assault on Ukraine after sending forces to the former Soviet republic in 2014 to annex the Crimean peninsula. Russia denies planning an attack, but says it could take unspecified military action if its security demands are not met.

Reporting by Simon Lewis; Additional reporting by Alexander Ermoshenko in Donetsk, Mark Trevelyan in London and Vladimir Soldatkin and Tom Balmforth in Moscow; Written by Paul Carrel; Editing by Michael Shields, Mary Milliken, Grant McCool and Timothy Heritage

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