Ms Sherman “stressed the United States’ commitment to the international principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and the freedom of sovereign nations to choose their own alliances” at the dinner, said Ned Price, a state department spokesman.

Ms Sherman “affirmed that the United States would welcome genuine progress through diplomacy,” he added.

Western diplomats played down expectations of success ahead of the talks, emphasising that Russia has not slowed apparent preparations for war and that its diplomatic demands have been unacceptable.

The Telegraph understands that Nato insiders believe Russia’s deployment of peacekeepers in Kazakhstan last week has had no appreciable impact on its ability to carry out operations against Ukraine.

“I don’t think that we can expect that these meetings will solve all the issues,” Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of Nato, said after talks with Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.

“What we are hoping for is that we can agree on a way forward, that we can agree on a series of meetings, that we can agree on a process.”

Radical Russian demands

Anthony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, warned on Sunday that Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, could choose between “diplomacy” and “massive consequences” should he opt for war.

He said the US would expect to see de-escalation on the Russian-Ukrainian border as a condition of further talks

But he cautioned: “It’s very hard to see that happening when there’s an ongoing escalation, when Russia has a gun to the head of Ukraine with 100,000 troops near its borders, the possibility of doubling that in very short order.”

Fyodor Lukyanov, the chair of the Council for Foreign and Defence Policy,  a think-tank close to the Russian government, said there was likely more readiness to compromise than public rhetoric suggested.

“Based on what we hear publicly there is absolutely no sense to meet. But they  are meeting, and these are not just top diplomats  – the delegations are composed for serious talk,” said Mr Lukyanov. “That gives me hope.”

He said Russia would be seeking recognition from the US that its long-held grievances about Nato expansion since the 1990s should be taken seriously.

“Why is Russia putting these demands so radically? There is one reason, one intention. To demonstrate to the Americans that this stage of diplomacy is not about technicalities,” he added.  

“On the Russian side there is a very serious demand –  yes we can talk about technicalities, but first we need to address policy and the political dimension. And that is about the security arrangement in Europe after the Cold War.”