Week of US-Russia diplomatic talks kick off amid Ukraine tension

Week of U.S.-Russia diplomatic talks kick off amid Ukraine tension.

Delegations from the U.S. and Russia will hold talks Monday, kicking off a critical week of diplomacy between Moscow and the West over Russian President Vladimir Putin menacing neighboring Ukraine.

Ahead of the negotiations, a senior Biden administration official said the United States was open to discussing limits on missile deployments and troop exercises in Europe.

For weeks now, Russia has massed nearly 100,000 troops along Ukraine's borders and sharpened its rhetoric to blame Kyiv, the U.S., and NATO for provoking a conflict -- heightening fears in Washington and beyond that Putin is laying the pretext for a full-scale invasion.

Russia has denied that, but under the threat of war, it has issued a list of demands in two draft treaties last month that would remake Europe with greater Russian influence -- its most profound challenge to the post-Cold War landscape in three decades.