Edition in politics russia third

But we are also unified in our willingness to engage in principled diplomacy with Russia," the NSC spokesman said in a statement. Both sides are also expected to engage during a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe scheduled for January 13, according to the US spokesman.

That's what diplomacy is about. US officials plan to consult with Ukraine regularly on the side as the negotiations take place next month, a White House official told CNN, since Ukraine is not a member of two of the three bodies set to meet in early January to discuss the country's future and Russia's demands that NATO not expand further eastward.

Asked why the White House plans to use the US-Russia strategic stability dialogue -- traditionally reserved for nuclear arms talks -- for talks about Ukraine and NATO, the official said the administration wanted to use an existing format as a vehicle for the talks instead of creating a new one specifically for that purpose. The US and Russia are still going back and forth over the agenda. The official said the White House believes talks would be more productive in an environment of de-escalation, but said the status of the talks were not contingent upon Russia drawing down.

Hear Russian diplomat's response The effort ended without clear breakthroughs over the tens of thousands of Russian troops amassed on the Ukrainian border , leaving prospects for future diplomacy and de-escalation in doubt as Russian officials suggested they could soon turn to military options.

It was the third session that capped a week of intensive meetings that the United States and its NATO allies hoped could spur Russia to pursue a path of "de-escalation and diplomacy" rather than mobilizing the tens of thousands of Russian troops whose presence has swelled along Ukraine's borders. But Russian officials reacted with frustration and impatience coming out of the meetings, suggesting they were poised to abandon discussions over the US and NATO's refusal to entertain Moscow's key demands: A guarantee that Ukraine will never be permitted to join NATO and that the alliance roll back its expansion in Eastern Europe.

Ryabkov said he didn't see a reason for the two sides to continue talks, even though the US has suggested they would continue beyond this week. Read More.

US says Russia made no commitments to de-escalate Ukraine crisis after latest round of talks. But Russia did not commit to pulling back the more than , troops now along the border, and the Russian military conducted live-fire exercises along the border this week as the talks were ongoing. US officials made clear heading into the talks they did not know whether Russia was serious about diplomacy or just planned to use the sessions as a pretext for military action.

The US has warned it has readied strong sanctions it would enact in the event of an invasion. Throughout this week's talks, the US has repeatedly argued that diplomacy can't happen unless Russia de-escalates, which Sherman on Monday said the US defined as Russia returning its troops to barracks or telling the US "that exercises are ongoing and what their purpose is.

Russia says US demands are 'unacceptable'.