State Department spokesman Ned Price during a briefing confirmed the authenticity of the US and NATO responses to Russia’s proposals on security guarantees leaked to the Spanish newspaper El País, reports RIA News.
I did not see anything in these documents that would give reason to believe that they are not genuine.
The US and NATO have previously refused to comment on materials published in the media. The State Department did not say anything about this when journalists approached them. NATO also did not say whether the documents are real, and said that Brussels “does not comment on the leaks.”
On February 2, the newspaper El Pais published the content of the responses to the Russian proposals for security guarantees. The text reported that in their response, the United States and NATO offer to restore relations and the work of the embassies closed in 2021, but at the same time threaten to deploy more troops in Eastern Europe in the event of “Moscow’s aggression against Kiev.”
Who’s guilty?
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby commented on the leaked materials. He said that this is not the fault of the American authorities. “The United States, for its part, did not publish a response. There is no difference between what we say publicly and what we talk about in private discussions. NATO and its partners are united in their determination and are open to constructive, serious discussions. If Russia is really serious about finding a diplomatic solution, then this document makes it clear that such a possibility exists,” Kirby said.
The Russian side also stated that it had nothing to do with the publication of responses to Russian proposals for security guarantees in a Spanish newspaper. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that El Pais or the Spanish leadership could name those responsible. The Kremlin representative also noted that this publication was seen there.
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Later it turned out that the author of the publication, Ibay Arbide Asa, is in Ukraine. He did not disclose the source of the leak, but noted that, in his opinion, the publication of the text would not affect future negotiations between the parties. In the published materials, the file itself with the content of the answers was marked as “Kyiv and Madrid”. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that Kiev received its copy of the response before it was handed over to Russia.
Content and consequences
The documents say that the West is ready to restore diplomatic relations with Moscow. The US also offered to restore relations and reopen embassies closed last year and “take a series of confidence-building measures” in the military sphere, such as establishing an emergency contact line to help prevent incidents in the air and at sea.
But for further dialogue, Russia must stop “aggression against Ukraine,” the materials say. If that doesn’t happen, the US and its NATO allies plan to deploy more troops in Eastern Europe. According to American intelligence, Russia allegedly concentrated more than 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine.
Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs magazine, said that the US and NATO responses show the West’s readiness to acknowledge the problem with the security control system in Eastern Europe. According to him, this is the most important shift in bilateral relations between Russia and the West, since Moscow’s position was previously considered unconstructive. He called the decisions of the West predictable and noted that they completely ignored all the political proposals of Russia, but expressed readiness to discuss issues of a technological nature and arms control.
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State Department spokesman Ned Price noted that the United States hopes to continue dialogue with Russia after Russia’s written response. He stressed that Washington does not put forward any additional conditions before the dialogue and hopes for new diplomatic contacts.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken informed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of his readiness for serious diplomatic work with Russia on a reciprocal basis. He said that the United States is confident in Russia’s interest in further dialogue on security issues.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin called a possible scenario for a war between Russia and NATO. He stated that if Ukraine joins the Alliance, then Kiev can start a military operation in the Crimea, and this will mean a war between the two sides. According to the Russian leader, Ukraine and the situation around it are a tool to achieve this goal. “This can be done in different ways: by drawing us into some kind of armed conflict and forcing, including our allies in Europe, to impose the very tough sanctions against us that are being talked about in the United States today,” Putin said.
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