Amid war of words, top diplomats agree for more diplomacy on Ukraine crisis

Washington and Moscow's top diplomats agreed at high-stakes talks on Friday to keep working to ease tensions over Ukraine, with the United States promising a written response to Russian security demands next week.

As fears grow that Russian could invade its pro-Western neighbour, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sat down for 90 minutes of hastily-arranged talks in Geneva.

Russia has massed tens of thousands of troops on the Ukrainian border, denying it plans to invade but demanding security guarantees, including a permanent ban on the country joining Nato.

Blinken said after the talks that Washington will share written ideas with Russia next week, voicing hope for more diplomacy.

"We didn't expect any major breakthroughs to happen today, but I believe we are now on a clear path in terms of understanding each other's concerns and each other's positions," Blinken told reporters.

"We ended up with an agreement that we will receive written responses to all our proposals next week," Lavrov said in a separate press conference.

"Antony Blinken agreed that we need to have a reasonable dialogue, and I hope emotions will decrease," Lavrov said.

"I cannot say whether or not we are on the right track. We will know when we get an answer," Lavrov said. He added that another meeting could be held between the two, but that it was "premature" to start talking about a summit between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin.

Biden bluntly assessed on Wednesday that Putin is likely to "move in" on Ukraine and warned of a "disaster for Russia". German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British PM Boris Johnson yesterday warned that Russia would pay a "considerable and serious price" if it invades Ukraine.

Russia yesterday reiterated demands for the "withdrawal of foreign forces, hardware and arms" from countries that were not Nato members before 1997, this time singling out Bulgaria and Romania, two countries that joined Nato in 2004.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Russia's parliament have presented a bill that would ask Putin to recognise the independence of two pro-Moscow separatist territories in Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk. Ukraine's intelligence service yesterday accused Russia of sending fresh arms and equipment to the rebels.