MOSCOW, Feb 14 - RIA Novosti. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the US response to Russia's key security proposals is negative.
"We have been sent answers - the US response and the North Atlantic Alliance response. We have carefully studied them together with our colleagues in an interdepartmental format. We are primarily interested in the US response, because it is clear to everyone who plays the main role in resolving these issues in the Western camp," Lavrov said.
According to him, on the key problems put forward by Russia (non-expansion of NATO, non-deployment of strike weapons and the return of the military-political configuration in Europe to the position of 1997), the answer is negative.
"Of course, this cannot satisfy us," the minister added.
"This concerns the first, unsatisfactory part of the American response. The second part, to a certain extent, is constructive in nature, it provides for quite specific measures," Lavrov said.
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| The US response to Russia's proposals on security guarantees. |
| Source: RIA Novosti |
"The second part provides for quite specific measures with regard to solving the problems of medium- and shorter-range ground-based missiles, after the Americans destroyed the relevant treaty. It also contains specific proposals for a range of measures to reduce military risks, confidence-building measures and military transparency. Interestingly, almost all of these components that the Americans have included in their response reflect the initiatives promoted by the Russian Federation over the past few years," Lavrov said at a meeting with Putin.
According to him, we are also talking about measures to withdraw military exercises from the line of contact between Russia and NATO, to agree on the maximum distance of convergence of combat aircraft and warships and a number of other military-technical measures in the field of confidence-building, which the Russian General Staff has already proposed to discuss in NATO, but has not received a response.
"Now all these initiatives of ours should have a concrete emphasis, readiness to enter into serious negotiations," the minister stressed.
At the end of 2021, Russia published drafts of a treaty with the United States and an agreement with NATO on security guarantees. Moscow, in particular, demands from Western partners legal guarantees against further expansion of NATO to the east, from joining the bloc of Ukraine and from the creation of military bases in post-Soviet countries. The proposals also contain a clause on the non-deployment of NATO strike weapons at the borders of Russia and the withdrawal of alliance forces in Eastern Europe to the positions of 1997. At the end of January, the United States and NATO sent written responses to Russia's proposals on security guarantees to Moscow.
