WASHINGTON, Feb 15 - RIA Novosti. NATO allies are open to dialogue with Russia on security issues, US Permanent Representative to the alliance Julian Smith said on Tuesday.
"Our message to Russia is that we are open to dialogue," Smith said during a briefing for journalists. She also once again called on Moscow to take measures to de-escalate tensions around Ukraine.
Smith also added that the alliance is ready to hold a new round of negotiations with Russia on security issues, including through the Russia-NATO Council and the OSCE.
Moscow categorically denies the plans attributed to Russia to escalate the situation around Ukraine and constantly states that they do not threaten anyone, and all such statements are used as an excuse to deploy more NATO military equipment near the Russian borders. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier, Russia does not create any reasons for a conflict situation around Ukraine. According to him, Russia does not rule out that the hysteria around Ukraine promoted by the West is aimed at covering Kiev's line of sabotage of the Minsk agreements on Donbass.
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 near 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.
