On Thursday, the United States’ envoy in Europe warned that the ‘drumbeat of war’ is ‘sounding loud’ following a week’s worth of diplomacy between Moscow and West that wrapped up amid Russia’s swelled military presence along the border with Ukraine but said America and most of its allies and partners support ongoing discussions to pack tensions. Russia said it was hitting a deadlock as it attempted to influence the West to halt Ukraine from joining the North Atlantic Alliance and roll back years of alliance expansion in Europe.

The U.S. permanent representative to the 57-country grouping, Michael Carpenter, told the media on a briefing call after the latest talks that America wouldn’t entertain spheres of influence or restrictions on rights of countries to choose their own coalitions. Currently, they’re experiencing a crisis in European security.

A U.S. diplomat says ‘the drumbeat of war is sounding loud’ as Russia makes new threats against Ukraine @MarquardtA and @mchancecnn report pic.twitter.com/fzhc9zV7Ss

— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) January 14, 2022

Carpenter said Russia’s military buildup of 0.1M forces, advanced armaments, electronic warfare systems, artillery systems, and ammunition close along the Ukrainian border “begs a lot of queries about what Moscow’s intentions are. Moreover, he said they’ve to take this very seriously. They’ve to prepare for the case that there could be an escalation, adding that Washington D.C. preferred “the route of dialogue and de-escalation.

Dialogue Reached Dead-end

Both Russian and American officials sounded a pessimistic note over the dialogue following Thursday’s meeting in Vienna, Austria, at the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe). It was the third time that capped a week of focused meetings that America and its NATO allies and partners anticipated could spur Russia to pursue a way of “diplomacy and de-escalation” rather than mobilizing thousands of Russian forces whose presence has increased along Ukraine’s borders.

But Russian officials responded with frustration and edginess developing from the meetings, proposing that they’re poised to abandon talks over America and NATO’s refusal to entertain Russia’s significant demands; an assurance that Ukraine will never be allowed to join North Atlantic Alliance and that the alliance roll back its expansion in Eastern Europe. Moreover, America and its NATO partners have frequently said such suggestions from Russia are non-starters.

According to Russian state media TASS, he said that Sergey Ryabkov, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, proposed the dialogue had reached an impasse or a difference in tactics because American and NATO wouldn’t address Russia’s demands about Ukraine never joining the military alliance. Ryabkov added he did not see a reason for the two sides to continue discussions, although the United States has proposed they’d continue beyond the current week.