EXPLAINER: Main issues at Russia-US security talks

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Officials from Russia and the United States and its NATO allies will sit down for talks focusing on Moscow’s demand for Western security guarantees amid a buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine. Russian and U.S. negotiators launched the talks in Geneva on Monday. They will be followed later this week by Russia-NATO talks in Brussels and OSCE talks in Vienna. There has been a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine that has fueled Western fears of an invasion. Moscow has urged the U.S. and its allies to provide binding guarantees that NATO won’t expand to Ukraine or deploy alliance weapons there. The U.S. and its allies have dismissed Russian demands as a non-starter but agreed to talks to discuss Moscow’s concerns.