Blinken urges diplomacy with Russia's Lavrov over standoff with Ukraine

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and urged Russia to seek a diplomatic solution to tensions with Ukraine, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

"Secretary Blinken reiterated our ongoing concerns that Russia has the capacity to launch an invasion of Ukraine at any moment and emphasized the need to see verifiable, credible, meaningful de-escalation," Price said in the statement on the phone call between Blinken and Lavrov.

"He underscored that, while further Russian aggression against Ukraine would result in a swift, severe, and united Transatlantic response, we remain committed to the diplomatic path and believe that a window remains to resolve the crisis peacefully."

Blinken said the U.S. "looks forward" to receiving a written response from the Russians to earlier correspondence from Washington and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) responding to the Kremlin's demands for security guarantees.

Russia had earlier criticized the written response from the U.S. and the security alliance as failing to address its core demands of ceasing NATO's expansion, barring Ukraine's entrance and withdrawing NATO troops from countries that joined the alliance after 1997.

Lavrov, in recent days, has said Moscow is preparing written responses to the U.S. and NATO and advised Russian President Vladimir Putin to remain open to ongoing efforts at diplomacy.

Putin on Tuesday reportedly said he welcomed dialogue about security with the West and the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that tens of thousands of troops poised against Ukraine's borders are beginning to be drawn down with the conclusion of large-scale military exercises.

The Biden administration has undertaken a fervent push to engage Russia diplomatically and deter it from launching an attack against Ukraine, which U.S. officials have warned could happen at any day.