During the talks on national security guarantees on January 10 in Geneva, the United States and Russia could not agree on the main thing for the Russian side – non-expansion of NATO to the east. According to the results of the meeting, this was announced by the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov.
“On the main issue of NATO non-expansion, I would say that there has been no improvement,” he said at a briefing.
According to Ryabkov, the issue of non-expansion of NATO is key for the national security of the Russian Federation, and it is impossible to postpone the settlement of this topic any longer.
“The situation is so dangerous that we can no longer afford to postpone this fundamental issue,” he said.
Ryabkov also stressed the need to guarantee that Ukraine and Georgia will never become members of the alliance.
“We need reinforced concrete, legally significant guarantees, not promises, but guarantees, with the words” must “,” must “never become NATO members,” he added.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States looks forward to new contacts with Russia on the prospects for security discussions in the coming days. He also added that the American delegation to the US-Russian talks in Geneva had put forward several proposals for bilateral measures to improve security, and stressed that Washington does not intend to begin discussing restrictions on NATO membership with Moscow.
The talks between Russia and the United States on security guarantees ended in Geneva on January 10 and lasted approximately 7.5 hours. Discussions were held at the US Permanent Mission in Geneva in a format closed to the press. The Russian side was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin. The American delegation was led by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.
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