US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
The US Secretary of State Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov of met today in a meeting that lasted about 30 minutes:
- Blinken told Lavrov, if Russia does not intend to invade, this is the time to pull back troops from border with Ukraine
- US is open to continuing talks with Russia in bilateral, NATO – Russia and CSE formats
- Lavrov said Russia still working on formal response to US which will need to be seen by Putin
- All of the signs on the ground regarding Ukraine that we see do not suggest de-escalation
- there was no specific date set for the next meeting or call
- call was professional and fairly candid
- we don't know if Putin has made a decision about what he is going to do
- Blinken raised Russia's troop and movement in Belarus to Lavrov
The markets are not pricing in an invasion. So any action by Russia would likely be met with stock selling, probably flight to safety in the USD and debt instruments.
