Talks are set to begin Sunday in Geneva between representatives of the U.S. and Russian governments with the goal of diffusing tensions in Eastern Europe, writes The Week.

Both parties, however, have issued statements suggesting that negotiations are unlikely to produce any workable solution on which Russia and the U.S. can agree. The New York Times reported Sunday that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei A. Ryabkov said the U.S. was entering into the talks with "a lack of understanding of what we need." He said Russia"s goal is to "bring NATO back to positions that are essentially equivalent to what was the case in 1997."

On the American side, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that he does not expect talks to be productive, NBC News reported. Russia submitted draft treaties last month containing a pair of ultimatums. NATO, the Russians insisted, must curtail its troop deployments in Eastern Europe and offer a binding guarantee that Ukraine will never be admitted to the alliance. "Neither of those is on the table," Blinken said on CNN"s State of the Union.