The US and other NATO members responded to Russia’s proposals for security guarantees by launching a “toxic” campaign with false accusations against the Russian side. This is stated in the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, published on January 22 on Facebook.
In particular, as the Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out, “The White House and its Western allies have launched an extremely toxic information and propaganda campaign that represents our country as an “aggressor”, “an enemy of civilized Europe” and a “threat” to international stability.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry explained that this decision was made instead of pausing and focusing on answers to the substance of the questions posed in the Russian documents.
At the same time, the document also drew attention to the fact that since December 15, 2021, at the moment when the draft agreements were officially proposed to the United States, Russia saw mainly “obvious attempts to drag out the discussion of specific parameters” and formats of the treaty.
On January 21, talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on security guarantees in Geneva ended. They lasted an hour and a half. On the same day, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the United States, in written proposals to Russia, would describe Washington’s vision of how countries can strengthen each other’s sense of security.
In turn, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stressed that Russia would make “serious political decisions” if the response of the US and NATO on security guarantees was disappointing. At the same time, the Deputy Foreign Minister noted that the role of diplomacy in any case remains central.
Negotiations on security guarantees were held in three stages in January. On January 10, a meeting of the Russian and US delegations took place in Geneva. On January 12, a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council was held in Brussels, and on January 13, consultations ended at the Vienna site of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Ryabkov pointed out that the US and NATO were not ready to meet Russian proposals for security guarantees. According to him, NATO’s position on the issue of non-expansion of the alliance is “impenetrable”, which is alarming. The Deputy Minister also stressed that the issue of non-expansion of NATO is key to the national security of the Russian Federation.
On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry published draft agreements between Russia, the United States and NATO on security guarantees. It follows from the documents that the alliance must renounce any military activity on the territory of Ukraine and other states of Eastern Europe, Transcaucasia and Central Asia. Also, Russia and NATO must pledge not to create conditions that can be regarded as a threat by the other side.
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