The United States has taken the lead in these contacts, while the EU claims to participate in them
The NATO countries will sit down in front of Russia on Wednesday to address the escalation of tensions on the border with Ukraine, where the large military concentration in Moscow has set off alarms about a possible aggression against Kiev. As confirmed by diplomatic sources, the meeting will bring together the 30 allies with the Russian authorities, in a meeting chaired by the Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, in which the United States will be represented by its Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman, and Russia by its Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko.
The NATO-Russia Council on Wednesday is presented as the first step to reduce tensions between the allies and the Kremlin, after a year full of political and diplomatic disagreements and with the threat over Ukraine as a point of friction, after Moscow will deploy military units and tens of thousands of troops on the border. The meeting follows the contacts maintained in Geneva between Washington and Moscow during the day on Monday and that concluded without the parties moving from their initial proposals and with the only agreement to continue talking.
The United States has taken the lead in these contacts, in which it wants to involve NATO despite the possible implications for European security as the EU has claimed its role in resolving the crisis. Faced with the “security guarantees” requested by Moscow, which calls for a lesser presence of NATO and the EU in its neighborhood, the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, has stressed that “any discussion on European security it must take place in coordination and with the participation of the EU. ‘
Washington has pointed out that “decisions on Ukraine will not be made without Ukraine; about Europe without Europe or about NATO without NATO. ‘ He also considers a red line to speak of vetoing Kiev’s entry into the military organization, as the Kremlin claims. Of course, the US representative opened up at the Swiss meeting to “establish reciprocal limits on the size and scope of military maneuvers and to improve transparency on exercises.”
However, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has defended reaching agreements with Russia and highlighted the meeting as an opportunity to pave the way for a way out of the crisis on the border with Ukraine. However, he has lowered expectations about the dialogue with Moscow, and, although he sees a positive step that NATO and Russia sit down to talk, Stoltenberg has said that this meeting will not solve all pending issues.
For his part, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenski, has stated in recent hours that he is willing to make “the decisions that are necessary” to “end the conflict”, for which he has called for a new summit of leaders of the known as the Normandy Quartet, which also includes Russia, France and Germany.
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