Russia (bbabo.net), - On Thursday, February 17, the Foreign Ministry transmitted Russia's response to the United States on security assurances. It states that "the American side did not give a constructive response to the basic elements of the draft treaty with the United States prepared by the Russian side on security guarantees."

A ten-page written response was handed over to US Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan, who arrived at Smolenskaya Square in the afternoon and left the building of the Russian Foreign Ministry fifteen minutes later without commenting to journalists. A few hours later, the text of the document appeared on the website of the diplomatic mission, as promised by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. From the very beginning, it lists provisions that are of fundamental importance for the Russian side.

This is the refusal to further expand NATO, the withdrawal of the "Bucharest formula" that "Ukraine and Georgia will become members of NATO", the refusal to create military bases on the territory of states that were previously part of the USSR and are not members of the alliance, the non-use of their infrastructure for conducting any military activities, as well as the return of military potentials, including strike ones, to the state of 1997. It was then that the Russia-NATO Founding Act was signed. Moscow insists that these demands were ignored in the response messages of the Americans - as well as the "package nature of Russian proposals, from which "convenient" topics were deliberately chosen. But even they, in turn, were "twisted" in the direction of creating advantages for the United States and their allies." In this scenario, the "safety equation" does not converge, they admit on Smolenskaya Square.

The United States ignored the "package nature" of Russian proposals, and in this situation, the "security equation" does not converge

“The growing military activity of the United States and NATO directly at Russian borders is alarming, while our “red lines” and core security interests, as well as Russia’s sovereign right to protect them, are still being ignored. Ultimate demands to withdraw troops from certain areas on the Russian territories accompanied by threats of tougher sanctions are unacceptable and undermine the prospects for reaching real agreements.

It analyzes in detail the blocks devoted to Ukraine, the configuration of forces in Europe, the principle of indivisibility of security, strategic stability, the deployment of nuclear weapons outside the national territory, military exercises and maneuvers, and other issues. The main conclusion is: "In the absence of the American side's readiness to agree on firm, legally binding guarantees of our security from the United States and its allies, Russia will be forced to respond, including by implementing measures of a military-technical nature." What these measures might be, the document does not say.

However, there are also positive moments that are noted in Moscow. Among them is the prospect of further negotiations on ground-based intermediate and shorter-range missiles. “It was noted that the United States is taking the Russian approach as a basis, which provides for the mutual settlement of mutual concerns in the context of the previously existing INF Treaty. in the European part of the territory of Russia, may be taken into consideration in the future," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states.

Moscow also noted the attention of the Americans to the Russian idea of ​​additional measures to reduce risks in relation to flights of heavy bombers near the national borders of the parties. The Russian side also welcomes the readiness of the United States for consultations on preventing incidents on the high seas and in the airspace above it. "We see a subject for discussion. However, this work cannot replace the settlement of key problems posed by Russia," the Foreign Ministry concluded.

We did not see in the US response evidence that the US side is fully committed to observing the immutable principle of the indivisibility of security

"Some positive points that are mentioned in this document are clearly not of paramount importance. Until there is progress in the political part, technical issues will not come to the forefront of the agenda," Fedor Lukyanov, research professor at the Higher School of Economics, admitted in an interview with "Russia is not going to retreat from the positions that were declared from the very beginning. Actually, the positions of both the Russian Federation and the West are both extremely tough and mirror in this sense."The interlocutor noted that along with written replies, Ambassador John Sullivan was given a notice of the expulsion from Moscow of Deputy Head of the Diplomatic Mission Bart Gorman. "I suspect that soon both embassies - ours in Washington and the American one in Moscow - will be mutually depopulated," Lukyanov said. According to the expert, the military-technical response promised by the Russian Federation may be associated with the deployment of weapons and increased military activity in "sensitive zones" - such as the Black and Baltic Seas, but it will not necessarily be associated with Ukraine.

Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev commented on the written reaction of the Russian Federation on Facebook: “The general impression is that the conversation between a lawyer and a propagandist continues. That is why our side again prefers a public conversation - this is both an indicator of absolute confidence in their own position, and the desire to avoid distorting this position to the public.

After all, the negotiations are being conducted not in a calm diplomatic atmosphere, but in a virtual hysterical climate, artificially generated by Western politicians and media precisely in order to avoid a serious discussion of fundamental Russian initiatives. Therefore, I consider it justified to give a detailed presentation of the "materiel" on the basic components of the international agenda. It will definitely not work out to misrepresent, ignore and tighten, I hope, too. We'll have to answer, and not in a "megaphone" format. The Ukrainians are already fed up with it."

The Russian Foreign Ministry published Moscow's response on security guarantees. Full text On February 17, 2022, US Ambassador John Sullivan, invited to the Russian Foreign Ministry, was given the following reaction to the earlier received American response on the Russian draft treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on security guarantees.

The document has 11 pages. Rossiyskaya Gazeta publishes the full text of the statement.

General characteristics

We state that the American side did not give a constructive answer to the basic elements of the draft treaty with the United States prepared by the Russian side on security guarantees. We are talking about the rejection of further expansion of NATO, the withdrawal of the "Bucharest formula" that "Ukraine and Georgia will become members of NATO", and the rejection of the creation of military bases on the territory of states that were previously part of the USSR and are not members of the Alliance, including the use of their infrastructure for conducting any military activity, as well as the return of military capabilities, including strike, and NATO infrastructure to the state of 1997, when the Russia-NATO Founding Act was signed. These provisions are of fundamental importance for the Russian Federation.

The package nature of Russian proposals was ignored, from which "convenient" topics were deliberately chosen, which, in turn, were "twisted" in the direction of creating advantages for the US and its allies. This approach, as well as the accompanying rhetoric from US officials, reinforces legitimate doubts that Washington is truly committed to fixing the European security situation.

The growing US and NATO military activity close to Russian borders is alarming, while our "red lines" and core security interests, as well as Russia's sovereign right to protect them, continue to be ignored. Ultimate demands to withdraw troops from certain areas on Russian territory, accompanied by threats of tougher sanctions, are unacceptable and undermine the prospects for reaching real agreements.

In the absence of the readiness of the American side to agree on firm, legally binding guarantees to ensure our security from the United States and its allies, Russia will be forced to respond, including through the implementation of military-technical measures.

In Ukraine

There is no "Russian invasion" of Ukraine, which the United States and its allies have been declaring at the official level since autumn last year, and is not planned, so statements about "Russia's responsibility for the escalation" cannot be interpreted otherwise, as an attempt to pressure and devalue Russia's proposals for security guarantees.

The mention in this context of Russian obligations under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum has nothing to do with the intra-Ukrainian conflict and does not apply to circumstances resulting from the action of internal factors there. The loss of territorial integrity by the Ukrainian state is the result of the processes that have taken place within it.The accusations of Russia contained in the American response that it "occupied Crimea" also do not stand up to scrutiny. In 2014, a coup d'etat took place in Kiev, the initiators of which, with the support of the United States and its allies, headed for the creation of a nationalist state that infringes on the rights of the Russian-speaking population, as well as other "non-titular" ethnic groups. It is not surprising that in such a situation, the Crimeans voted for reunification with Russia. The decision of the people of Crimea and Sevastopol to return to the Russian Federation was made by free will in the exercise of the right to self-determination enshrined in the UN Charter. No force or threat of force was used. The question of Crimea's belonging is closed.

If Ukraine is accepted into NATO, there will be a real threat that the regime in Kiev will try to “return” Crimea by force, drawing in the United States and its allies, in accordance with Art. 5 of the Washington Treaty, into a direct armed conflict with Russia with all the ensuing consequences.

The thesis repeated in the US response that Russia allegedly "ignited the conflict in Donbass" is untenable. Its reasons are purely domestic in nature. The settlement is possible only through the implementation of the Minsk agreements and the "Package of Measures", the priority and responsibility for the implementation of which are clearly defined and unanimously confirmed by UN Security Council Resolution 2202, including the United States, France and Great Britain. In paragraph 2 of this resolution, Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk are named as parties. None of these documents mentions Russia's responsibility for the conflict in Donbas. Russia, together with the OSCE, plays the role of a mediator in the main negotiating format - the Contact Group - and together with Berlin and Paris - in the Normandy format, which formulates recommendations to the parties to the conflict and monitors their implementation.

To de-escalate the situation around Ukraine, it is fundamentally important to take the following steps. These are forcing Kiev to comply with the "Package of Measures", stopping the supply of weapons to Ukraine, withdrawing all Western advisers and instructors from there, refusing any joint exercises with the Armed Forces of Ukraine from NATO countries and withdrawing all foreign weapons previously delivered to Kiev outside Ukrainian territory.

In this regard, we draw attention to the fact that President of Russia Vladimir Putin, at a press conference following the talks in Moscow with President of France Empress Macron on February 7, 2022, stressed that we are open to dialogue and urge "to think about stable conditions security for all, equal for all participants in international life".

Force configuration

We note that in its response to the Russian proposals, the US insists that progress in improving the European security situation "can be achieved only in terms of de-escalation in relation to Russia's threatening actions against Ukraine" , which, as we understand it, implies the demand for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the borders of Ukraine. At the same time, the United States is ready to talk only about "mutual obligations ... to refrain from deploying permanently based forces with combat missions on the territory of Ukraine" and "to consider the possibility of discussing the problem of conventional armed forces." As for the rest, the American side passes over in silence our proposals contained in sec. 2 Article 4 and para. 1 of Article 5 of the draft bilateral treaty and states that "the current configuration of US and NATO forces is limited, proportionate and fully consistent with the obligations under the NATO-Russia Founding Act".

We presume that the deployment of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on its territory does not and cannot affect the fundamental interests of the United States. We would like to remind you that there are no forces of ours on the territory of Ukraine.

At the same time, the United States and its allies were moving their military infrastructure to the east, deploying contingents in the territories of new members. They bypassed the CFE restrictions and quite loosely interpreted the provisions of the Russia-NATO Founding Act on the rejection of "additional permanent deployment of substantial combat forces." The situation that has developed as a result of these actions is unacceptable. We insist on the withdrawal of all US armed forces and weapons deployed in CEE, SEE and the Baltics. We are convinced that the national potentials in these zones are quite sufficient. We are ready to discuss this topic on the basis of Articles 4 and 5 of the Russian draft treaty.

Principle of the indivisibility of security

The US response did not confirm that the American side is fully committed to observing the immutable principle of the indivisibility of security. General statements about the consideration by the American side of this postulate directly contradict Washington's unwillingness to abandon its counterproductive and destabilizing course of creating advantages for itself and its allies at the expense of Russia's security interests. This is exactly what is happening as a result of the unrestrained implementation by the North Atlantic Alliance, with the leading role of the United States, of a policy of unrestricted geostrategic and military development of the post-Soviet space, including the territory of Ukraine, which is of a particularly sensitive nature for us. All this is happening directly on Russian borders. Thus, our "red lines" and fundamental security interests are ignored, and Russia's inalienable right to provide them is denied. For us, this is, of course, unacceptable.

Additionally, we remind you that this principle is enshrined in the preamble to the 2011 Treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on measures to further reduce and limit strategic offensive arms, which the parties agreed to extend for 5 years without any exceptions in February last year, and also in a number of OSCE and Russia-NATO basic documents adopted at the highest level: in the preamble of the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, in the Paris Charter for a New Europe of 1990, the Russia-NATO Founding Act of 1997, the Istanbul Charter of European Security of the OSCE of 1999 2002 NATO-Russia Rome Declaration and 2010 OSCE Summit Astana Declaration.

We note that the response received mentions Washington's commitment to the concept of the indivisibility of security. But in the text it boils down to the right of states "to freely choose or change the methods of ensuring their security, including union treaties." This freedom is not absolute and is only half of the well-known formula fixed in the Charter for European Security. Its second part requires, when exercising this right, not "... to strengthen one's security at the expense of the security of other states." We cannot consider the letter received from NATO dated February 10 of this year. as a response to the message sent by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov on January 28, 2022 to the US Secretary of State E. Blinken on this issue. We asked for a response in a national capacity.

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NATO's "open door" policy

The US confirms its "firm support" for NATO's "open door" policy. But it runs counter to the basic commitments made within the CSCE/OSCE, primarily the commitment "not to strengthen one's security at the expense of the security of others." This policy is not consistent with the guidelines of the alliance itself, which, following the meeting of the NATO Foreign Minister on June 6-7, 1991 in Copenhagen, undertook "not to take unilateral advantages from the changed situation in Europe", "not to threaten the legitimate interests" of other states, not to seek their "isolation" or "drawing new dividing lines on the continent".

We call on the United States and NATO to return to fulfilling their international obligations in the field of maintaining peace and security. We expect concrete proposals from the members of the alliance on the content and forms of legal consolidation of the renunciation of NATO's further eastward expansion.

Batch nature of proposals

We note the readiness of the United States to work substantively on individual measures to control arms and reduce risks. At the same time, they recorded that Washington had finally recognized the justification of a number of Russian proposals and initiatives in these areas that have been put forward in recent years.

At the same time, we once again draw the attention of the American side to the fact that Russia, in the documents we submitted on security guarantees, proposed to follow the path of a comprehensive long-term settlement of the unacceptable situation that continues to develop in the Euro-Atlantic region. First of all, we are talking about creating a stable foundation for a security architecture in the form of an agreement on NATO's refusal to take further actions that harm Russia's security. This remains an unchanging imperative for us. In the absence of such a strong foundation, interrelated arms control and military risk reduction measures that ensure restraint and predictability of military activity in separate areas, even if they can be agreed upon, will not be sustainable in the long term.

Thus, the Russian proposals are of a package nature and should be considered as a whole without singling out its individual components.

In this regard, we would like to focus on the lack of a constructive reaction from Washington and Brussels to the most important elements of the Russian initiative that we have clearly identified. As for arms control issues, we consider them exclusively in the general context of a comprehensive, package approach to resolving the problem of security guarantees.Back to news »

"Post START" and the "security equation"

The US proposes "immediately" to develop "measures to develop START" within the framework of the strategic stability dialogue. However, at the same time, the American side is trying to fix an approach that has not been coordinated with us, which provides for focusing exclusively on nuclear weapons, regardless of the ability of certain weapons to pose a direct threat to the national territory of the other side. Such a one-sided view of things is contrary to the understandings reached at the Russian-American summit on June 16, 2021 in Geneva regarding the comprehensive nature of the strategic dialogue, designed to lay the foundation for future arms control and risk reduction measures.

Russia continues to advocate an integrated approach to strategic issues. We propose to engage in the joint development of a new "safety equation".

The set of elements of the concept we propose, which remains fully relevant, was brought to the attention of the American side - incl. during the meetings within the framework of the strategic dialogue and in the working document submitted by us on December 17, 2021 on its content.

Back to news territories, and limited themselves to mentioning the need to deal with the problem of non-strategic nuclear weapons at the platform of the strategic dialogue without taking into account the peculiarities of their deployment and other factors affecting the security of the parties.

We would like to clarify that our proposals are about solving the problem of the presence on the territory of some non-nuclear NATO states - in violation of the NPT - of US nuclear weapons that are capable of hitting targets on Russian territory. This would include the elimination of the infrastructure for the rapid deployment of such weapons in Europe, as well as the cessation of NATO training and exercises in the handling of these weapons, which involve non-nuclear NATO member states.

Without removing this irritant, discussion of the topic of non-strategic nuclear weapons is impossible.

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Land-based intermediate and shorter-range missiles

We consider this problem as one of the priority areas of the Russian-American dialogue on strategic stability. We believe that this category of weapons is a necessary component of the new "security equation" that should be worked out jointly by Russia and the United States.

We continue to proceed from the relevance of Russian initiatives in the field of "post-INF Treaty", which are based on the idea of ​​reciprocal verifiable moratoriums on the deployment of ground-based INF Treaty in Europe.

In principle, we are open to substantive consideration of the ways of its practical implementation. At the same time, we note the continuing uncertainty in Washington's approaches to the main parameters of potential control measures over these weapons, primarily to their coverage, which should cover all weapons of the appropriate range in nuclear and non-nuclear equipment.

It was noted that the United States is taking the Russian approach as a basis, which provides for the mutual settlement of mutual concerns in the context of the previously existing INF Treaty. The version proposed by the American side for developing our idea of ​​mutual verification measures in relation to the Aegis Ashore complexes in Romania and Poland, as well as some facilities in the European part of Russia, can be further developed.

As emphasized in a statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin dated October 26, 2020, and subsequently repeatedly brought to the attention of the American side, potential transparency measures regarding Russian facilities subject to approval could include monitoring the absence of the Russian 9M729 missile there. We remind you that this step is a manifestation of goodwill, given that the characteristics of the 9M729 missile do not contradict the requirements of the former INF Treaty in any way, and that the United States has not provided any evidence that would confirm the accusations against Russia. At the same time, the American side ignored the voluntary event organized by us during the period of this Treaty on January 23, 2019 to demonstrate the device and technical characteristics of the 9M729 missile and its launcher.

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Heavy bombers and surface warships

We note the attention of the American side to the Russian idea of ​​additional risk mitigation measures in relation to flights of heavy bombers near the national borders of the parties. We see a subject for discussion and the potential for mutually acceptable agreements. We remind you of a no less important element of our "package" proposal concerning similar cruises of combat surface ships, which also involve serious risks.

Military exercises and maneuvers

The United States did not respond to the proposals contained in par. 2 Article 4 of the Russian draft treaty. The American side, apparently, proceeds from the fact that it is possible to reduce tension in the military sphere by increasing transparency and additional measures to reduce the danger in line with the proposals of the West to modernize the Vienna Document.

We consider such an approach unrealistic and one-sided, aimed at "seeing through" the activities of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Confidence- and security-building measures under the Vienna Document 2011 are adequate to the current situation. To start discussing the possibility of updating them, the necessary conditions must be created. And for this, the United States and its allies should abandon the policy of "containment" of Russia and take concrete practical measures to de-escalate the military-political situation, including in line with para. 2 Article 4 of our draft treaty.

As regards the prevention of incidents on the high seas and in the airspace above it, we welcome the readiness of the United States for appropriate consultations. However, this work cannot replace the settlement of the key problems posed by Russia.

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