The US response on security guarantees may contain threats in the form of offensive weapons approaching the borders of Russia and Belarus, as well as the introduction of sectoral sanctions that could affect financial and oil and gas markets, political strategist Marat Bashirov suggested. So in a conversation with Lenta.ru, he explained the US’s reluctance to disclose the content of its response to Russia’s proposals.
Washington gave Russia a written response to the proposals for security guarantees. The message was brought to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs by US Ambassador to the Russian Federation John Sullivan on Wednesday, January 26, and handed it over to Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko.
New challenges and new threats
The text of the response to the proposals was never published. Bashirov suggested that the reason for this was the threats against Russia contained in the document. The US does not want to make them public, realizing that this can only complicate the situation, the political scientist believes.
“I do not think that the answer turned out to be too soft, meeting the requirements of Russia. I will assume that the States are set to negotiate, but for now they will stand on their principles regarding NATO’s open door tactics. Changing this principle will also require changing the charter of the alliance itself. But, in fact, this story of the non-admission of Ukraine to NATO does not close the possibility of influencing the country through other agreements. For example, Ukraine can also be pumped up with weapons,” Bashirov said.
The political strategist suggested that regular talks between the presidents of Russia and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, could soon take place, during which the response received would be discussed. This, he believes, will be followed by an intermediate outcome, as a result of which the countries will either take the path of further discussion of points that are significant for both sides, or Russia will move on to the already promised military-technical measures.
“As for the threats themselves, possibly contained in the document, it probably refers to the approach of offensive weapons to the borders of Russia and Belarus. And also about sectoral sanctions that will affect the financial, as well as oil and gas markets,” Bashirov concluded.
Earlier, Alexei Chepa, First Deputy Head of the International Committee of the State Duma and a member of the Russian delegation to PACE, reacted to the transfer to Russia of a written response from the United States to proposals for security guarantees. He pointed out that Washington might not agree to them due to the policy pursued in recent years. “We understood that there would be an attempt to blur the answer. It can be assumed that those who want peace and stability in Europe, at least, will not see this,” the deputy stressed.
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