The focus of the upcoming talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will be on the situation around Ukraine, on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, and on security guarantees. This was announced on Monday, February 14, by the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov.
“This, and the other, and the third. This is a high-priority agenda,” he told reporters, answering a related question.
Earlier, on February 9, Scholz noted that Germany is ready for dialogue with Russia at all levels and in all possible formats for the sake of a political settlement.
On February 2, the German chancellor announced a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It was noted that the visit to Moscow is scheduled for February 15.
In the United States and a number of European countries, they have recently expressed concern about the alleged increase in Russia’s “aggressive actions” against Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied such accusations, saying that it does not threaten anyone, and such statements are used as a pretext to place as much NATO military equipment as possible near the borders of the Russian Federation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Russian Federation was not going to start a war with Ukraine, and Western countries and the United States were “hysterically” developing the topic of a threat to Ukraine from the Russian Federation instead of forcing Ukraine to comply with the Minsk agreements.
On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry published draft agreements between Russia, the United States and NATO on security guarantees. The document assumes, in particular, non-expansion of NATO to the east, the withdrawal of the alliance’s weapons to the positions of 1997, as well as the non-deployment of strike weapons near Russian borders.
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.
The construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was completed on September 10. It was built from Russia to Germany along the bottom of the Baltic Sea for the purpose of direct gas supplies to Europe. The EU countries mainly support the project and participate in its implementation. The Baltic States, Poland, the United States and Ukraine are opposed. On December 16, Germany postponed the decision to certify the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline until at least mid-2022.
#Peskov #spoke #emphasis #upcoming #talks #Putin #Scholz