US, Russia to face off over Ukraine crisis at UN Security Council

The United States and Russia are set to square off at the UN Security Council over Ukraine, with Washington calling Moscow’s actions a threat to international peace and security, while a Kremlin envoy ridiculed Monday’s meeting as a “PR stunt.”

The UN meeting, which begins at 10 a.m. New York time (5 p.m. in Israel) kicks off more high-level diplomacy this week, although talks between the US and Russia have so far failed to ease tensions in the crisis, in which Russia has massed an estimated 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders, 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.

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.

Any formal action by the Security Council is extremely unlikely, given Russia’s veto power and its ties with others on the council, including China.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that “hysteria promoted by Washington triggers hysteria in Ukraine, where people are almost starting to pack their bags for the front line.”

US President Joe 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.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Russia’s actions pose “a clear threat to international peace and security and the UN Charter.”

Speaking Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Thomas-Greenfield said: ”We’re going into the room prepared to listen to them, but we’re not going to be distracted by their propaganda.”