Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov believe that the US response to Moscow's proposals on security guarantees lacks the most important thing - agreement with NATO's non-expansion to the east. At the same time, both the Foreign Ministry and the Kremlin believe that dialogue between the parties is still possible.

Response of the Russian Foreign Ministry

Lavrov said that the Russian side is considering documents on security guarantees received from the US and NATO. “Now we are studying the answer that we received from the Americans and which, as [U.S. Secretary of State Anthony] Blinken himself said, was agreed with the Ukrainians and other Western countries, allies of the United States,” the diplomat said.

He stressed that in the response of American politicians there is no positive reaction to Moscow's main question about the non-expansion of NATO, although they themselves insist on observing the principles that relate to the security architecture in the Euro-Atlantic area.

“They immediately say: this means that NATO has the right to expand, no one has the right to prohibit NATO from considering the appeals of any other country,” Lavrov emphasized.

He believes that the principle that "one cannot strengthen one's security at the expense of the security of others" is deliberately hushed up. The Russian Foreign Minister warned that Moscow was not going to take a position in which neither the Istanbul nor the Astana Declaration "are mentioned in the discussions on European security that are currently taking place."

At the same time, the Russian authorities intend to further promote their position on the non-expansion of the alliance to the East.

“If they explained to us about the 1990s by the lack of written commitments on the non-expansion of NATO. Now we have these written commitments. They have been confirmed within the OSCE more than once, including at the highest level. We will now focus on explaining this crafty position of our Western colleagues,” the minister said.

At the same time, he believes that, based on the US response, one can talk about a serious conversation, but on secondary topics.

The contents of the document will be made public shortly. He explained that the answer had already been agreed with all American allies. “Therefore, I have no doubts that it will “leak” in the very near future,” Lavrov added.

Back to news »

The Kremlin's response

Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov noted that, judging by Washington's response, it cannot be said that the partners took into account Moscow's concerns. Peskov recalled recent statements by the US Secretary of State and the NATO Secretary General: "They absolutely unequivocally spoke about the rejection of the main concerns that were outlined by the Russian Federation."

“You know that the opinion of our counterparts was expressed, meaning in Washington and Brussels, that these response papers should not be published, the content of these papers, that now, in principle, it really is not worth (saying), because everything is already known to everyone” , Peskov stressed.

But despite the West's lack of agreement with Russia's proposals, the Kremlin believes that it is still possible to continue the dialogue between the countries. Such prospects, Peskov is sure, should always exist.

“This is both in our interests and in the interests of the Americans. And no matter how diametrically opposite we sometimes differ in our views, dialogue is always needed,” he said.

As for negotiations on intermediate and shorter-range missiles (INF), they are hardly "viable" in isolation from the overall security architecture.

Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news »

Reaction to the US response and Moscow's assessment of it

“I'll tell you right away, you will probably ask about what the Americans handed over to us yesterday, what the NATO handed over. The president has all these papers,” Peskov told reporters, noting that Vladimir Putin personally read the papers.

At the same time, it is not yet known in what format Russia will respond to the documents sent from the United States. Separately, the issue of the publicity of the Russian reaction will also be decided.

“If necessary, the president consults with members of the leadership, with members of the Security Council, with his assistants. I can’t tell you any exact date, but it’s clear that no one will particularly delay the reaction, ”he explained.

Peskov noted that it would probably be stupid to expect Russia's response the very next day. "Still, let's not forget that it took almost a month, more than a month, to study our documents, the United States and the whole of Europe, so let's not expect our immediate reaction," the Kremlin spokesman added, also refraining from assessing Washington's response.

bbabo.Net