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For months, NATO and the EU have been criticizing the march of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine. Moscow is seeking an end to NATO expansion to the east and is stepping up pressure by seeking security guarantees.
At the height of tensions with Ukraine, Russia has made several demands on the United States and NATO. The government in Moss published drafts of two agreements aimed at halting the alliance’s eastward expansion as well as establishing U.S. military defense bases in the countries of the former Soviet Union. The background has to do with the West fearing that Russian forces could intervene in Ukraine.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the United States should take his government’s initiative seriously. The Russian government is not ready to accept the current situation. Russia and the West need to reconceptualize relations between them. His government is ready to negotiate immediately in a neutral country with the US, said the Russian deputy minister. A meeting in Geneva has been proposed to Washington. “It is crucial that the security guarantees demanded by Russia have a ‘legal effect,'” Ryabkov said.
Cold reaction from Washington
The US government has in principle expressed readiness for dialogue, but at the same time strictly rejected Russia’s demands. “We are ready to talk about this,” said a US government spokeswoman. The leadership in Moscow, however, knows that some of its demands are “unacceptable.” The US, after consultations with its EU allies, “will respond next week with a concrete proposal.”
US President Joe Biden’s spokeswoman Jen Psaki, meanwhile, made it clear: “There will be no security talks in Europe without our European allies and partners.” Psaki added: “We will not question the basic principles on which European security is conceived, including the right of all countries to decide on their future without outside influence.”
In the draft security agreement with the US, Russia urges the government in Washington to block the former Soviet republics from joining NATO. Moscow also demands from the US the promise that no military defense bases will be built in the former Soviet republics, which are not part of NATO. At Russia’s request, the US should renounce any military cooperation with these countries. During its military engagement in Afghanistan, defense bases in the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan played a central role for the United States.
Against the background of massive movements of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine, concerns are growing that Moscow may attack the neighboring country. The G7 countries and the EU threaten Russia if it takes such a step with “massive consequences”. Instead, the Kremlin accuses Ukraine of arming itself from the West and attempting NATO military maneuver near the border with Russia.
Russia last week demanded that NATO suspend membership prospects for Ukraine and Georgia. A membership of these two countries in NATO is not even up for discussion, especially Ukraine cooperates closely with the West, mainly with the US.
On Tuesday (December 14th), Russian President Putin called on NATO and the United States for “immediate” talks on “legal guarantees for our country.” According to Putin, an expansion of the military alliance in the East as well as the deployment of weapons systems in Ukraine and other neighboring countries of Russia should be ruled out. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday (16.12) categorically rejected Russia’s demands for the exclusion of Ukraine’s membership in the alliance and stressed a close partnership with Kiev./DW/
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