The United States and Russia squared off Monday in the UN Security Council, where Moscow lost an attempt to block a public meeting on Moscow's troop buildup near Ukraine's borders and Western fears of an invasion.
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US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield dismissed a charge by Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia that Washington was trying "to whip up hysterics" and use "megaphone diplomacy" by calling the first Security Council meeting on the crisis.
"Imagine how uncomfortable you would be if you had 100,000 troops on your border," Thomas-Greenfield said.
The vote on holding an open meeting passed 10-2, with Russia and China opposed, and three abstentions. The vote needed nine votes to be approved.
UN Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo then went ahead with an open briefing.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement that the meeting was "a critical step in rallying the world to speak out in one voice" to reject the use of force, seek military de-escalation, support diplomacy and demand accountability from every member "to refrain from military aggression against its neighbors."
The session kicked off more high-level diplomacy this week, although talks between the US and Russia have so far failed to ease tensions in the crisis. Russia has massed the estimated 100,000 troops near the borders of its southern neighbor, stoking fears in the West of an invasion.
Russia denies it intends to launch an attack but demanded that NATO promise never to allow Ukraine to join the alliance, halt the deployment of NATO weapons near Russian borders, and roll back its forces from Eastern Europe. NATO and the US call those demands impossible.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken didn't make any visible progress in easing the tensions at their meeting in Geneva earlier this month. They are expected to speak by phone Tuesday, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Biden warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a phone call Thursday that there is a "distinct possibility" Russia could begin an incursion in February, but the Ukrainian leader sought to play down the war fears, saying Western alarm over an imminent invasion has prompted many investors in the country's financial markets to cash out.
Zelenskyy said Friday that "we aren't seeing any escalation bigger than before," and charged that the Russian buildup could be an attempt by Moscow to exert "psychological pressure" and sow panic.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will visit Ukraine on Tuesday for talks with Zelenskyy, and will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin later Monday, to urge him to "step back," Johnson's office said. Johnson says he is considering sending hundreds of British troops to NATO countries in the Baltic region as a show of strength.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that "hysteria promoted by Washington triggers hysteria in Ukraine, where people are almost starting to pack their bags for the front line."
While Russia could try to block the Security Council meeting if it gets the support of nine of the 15 members, the US was confident it had "more than sufficient support" to hold it, according to a senior official in the Biden administration who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly.
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