The Russian side does not understand the logic of the American Foreign Ministry, which calls on Moscow to return its "troops to barracks" or to inform Washington what exercises and for what purpose it is conducting.
At the same time, the United States, for its part, does not want to discuss the number of troops in Europe, the Russian Embassy in the United States said in a statement on Twitter.
"We do not understand the logic of First Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman," the Russian diplomats stressed.
They added that it is Russia's choice where and when to conduct military exercises on its territory. The embassy stressed that the Russian Federation will continue to conduct exercises, as it meets the interests of the country's security.
The talks between the United States and Russia in Geneva, Switzerland, lasted about 7.5 hours behind closed doors. The Russian delegation was headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin. The American one was led by the first deputy head of the State Department, Wendy Sherman.
The reason for the meeting was the draft agreement on security guarantees sent by Moscow to Washington and its allies in December 2021.
In particular, RuNews24 writes, the document includes provisions on the mutual non-deployment of medium-range and shorter-range missiles in each other's reach, on the rejection of further expansion of NATO at the expense of the former republics of the Soviet Union and on reducing the number of military exercises.
