What We're Tracking Russia awaits a written U.S. response as tensions over Ukraine rise. Following a Jan. 21 meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the United States had promised to provide a written response to Russia's proposal on security guarantees in Europe by Jan. 30. Lavrov also said that he will ask the United States to make its written answer public. Additional talks are unlikely until Russia receives the answer, and tensions will continue to rise in the meantime as Russia's unprecedented buildup of forces near Ukraine and in Belarus continues. Russia will wait for the answers before deciding on its next steps diplomatically and militarily, but Moscow's desire to have the U.S. response made public ensures any response will largely be performative, and hence unlikely to significantly lower tensions. The Federal Open Market Committee meets.