The exclusion of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from NATO may become one of the possible scenarios for the development of events around negotiations on the strategic security of Russia and the United States. This opinion was expressed by the American analyst David Pine in an article for The national interest…
According to him, the United States can sacrifice the Baltic countries for the sake of a strategic agreement with Moscow, since Washington has no vital interests in the region.
Pine notes that Russia’s demands for security guarantees in Europe can be considered fully justified, and their partial implementation will prevent a new world war, and for this purpose each side can make serious concessions to each other.
The author of the article recalled that the Russian authorities insist on ending NATO’s eastward expansion and insist on not including the states that were previously part of the USSR into the alliance.
In addition, the conditions proposed by the Russian Federation assume that the United States will undertake obligations to not deploy ballistic missiles near Russian borders.
“The provisions include a guarantee that <…> US or NATO ballistic missiles will not be deployed in Eastern Europe. The provision of the Russian-proposed security agreement states that the United States will undertake to prevent further NATO expansion to the east and will refuse to join the states of the former USSR, which can be interpreted as excluding Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, ”the analyst explained.
On December 31, during his speech, President Sauli Niiniste assessed Russia’s proposals to the United States and NATO on security guarantees, pointing out that they allegedly contradict the current security order in Europe. According to him, the concern is caused by Moscow’s desire to stop the expansion of the alliance.
On December 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed starting substantive negotiations with NATO on the issue of not expanding the alliance to the east. The head of state noted that Moscow does not require any special conditions, but considers it necessary to take into account the interests of Russia by other countries. Moscow is interested in building constructive interaction in the development of equal international cooperation, he stressed.
At the same time, the Russian leader indicated that the country is taking adequate military-technical actions in response to external threats.
Earlier, on December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry published draft treaties between Russia and the United States and NATO on security guarantees. The documents offer the alliance to abandon any military activity on the territory of Ukraine and other states of Eastern Europe, Transcaucasia and Central Asia.
Russian-American talks on strategic stability and security issues will take place on January 10. Thereafter, on January 12, the issue of European security and the situation in Ukraine will be discussed at a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council and on January 13 with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
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