The first deputy head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council, Vladimir Dzhabarov, on Wednesday, January 12, commented to Izvestia on the US demand from Russia to ensure the transparency of military exercises taking place on its territory.
Earlier in the day, State Department spokesman Ned Price made a similar statement. According to him, de-escalation of the situation around Ukraine in the current situation would imply the return of the Russian military to the barracks, an explanation by the Russian side of the corresponding maneuvers or their termination.
Dzhabarov called such demands of the Americans political rudeness and noted that the United States had already lost a sense of proportion in its statements. According to him, such behavior of the representatives of the States speaks of their desire to torpedo any process of establishing relations with Russia, and such statements should not be answered.
“What is your business, what are we doing where? We do not interfere with what is happening in Alabama, or what is happening in Nevada and elsewhere. This is your internal affair. Why are you meddling with us? ” He added.
On January 11, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, discussed further joint actions, taking into account the following diplomatic contacts with Russia in the format of the NATO-Russia Council and the OSCE Permanent Council. Thus, Kiev and Washington reaffirmed their adherence to the principle of “no agreements on Ukraine without Ukraine.”
The day before, Russia and NATO held talks on security guarantees in Geneva. They lasted approximately 7.5 hours. Discussions were held at the US Permanent Mission in a format closed to the press.
The Kremlin said it sees no reason for optimism after the talks. At the same time, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Ryabkov, who represented Moscow at the negotiations, assesses the very fact of the conversation positively.
The talks on security guarantees will be held in three stages: on January 10, a meeting took place in Geneva, on January 12 in Brussels – a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council, and the next day consultations are scheduled at the Vienna platform of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry published draft agreements between Russia and the United States and NATO on security guarantees. Among the main proposals is a guarantee that NATO will not expand eastward.
Recently, American media and politicians have announced that Russia is allegedly preparing an invasion of Ukraine and the concentration of Russian troops on the border. Moscow has repeatedly denied speculation about a possible attack. On December 25, the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, said that Russia had never attacked anyone first. He stressed that the statements of Ukraine and the United States about the “aggressive actions” of Russia are being made in order to deploy more NATO military equipment near the country’s borders.
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