Mosca The written responses presented by the United States and NATO to Russia’s security demands fail to address Moscow’s concerns over the eastward expansion of the military alliance, Russia’s Foreign Minister said Thursday as fears of a possible invasion of Ucraina remain high.
“There is no positive reaction on the main issue in this document,” Sergey Lavrov told journalists in Moscow. “The main issue is our clear position on the inadmissibility of further expansion of NATO to the East and the deployment of strike weapons that could threaten the territory of the Russian Federation.”
Tensions between Moscow and Kyiv are at their highest in years, with a large Russian troop buildup near the shared borders of the two former Soviet republics.
Russia has repeatedly denied it is planning an invasion but has argued that NATO support for Ukraine — including increased weapons supplies and military training — constitutes a growing threat on its western flank.
Lavrov explained the US and NATO had previously agreed within the context of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Perché l'Ucraina chiede aiuto a Biden) not to expand at the expense of Russia’s safety.
“We present non-verbal promises, written documents signed by the leaders of all the OSCE countries, including the President of the United States (Istanbul Declaration of 1999, Astana Declaration of 2010), our Western partners have to get out from a more serious situation,” Lavrov explained. “This principle is clearly stated. It has two main interrelated approaches. Primo, the right of every state to freely choose military alliances is recognized. Secondo: the obligation of each state not to strengthen its security at the expense of the security of others.”
“In altre parole, the right to choose alliances is clearly conditioned by the need to take into account the security interests of any other OSCE state, including the Russian Federation,” Lavrov concluded.
The Russian Foreign Minister conceded the responses by the US and NATO could lead to serious discussions but only on secondary issues.
“There is a reaction there that allows us to count on the beginning of a serious conversation, but on secondary topics,” Egli ha detto.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov echoed the same concerns on Thursday, saying on the surface, Russia’s prime concerns had not been addressed. He however refused to give an official definitive answer to the responses presented by the US and NATO.
Peskov told journalists during a conference call that Vladimir Putin had read the written responses from both the US and NATO, but added that Russia’s President and his government won’t be rushing into any conclusions.
“The President already read the written responses,” Egli ha detto. “All the papers are with the President. It will take some time to analyze them, we will not rush to any conclusions.”
Russia’s official response would not take long but Peskov cautioned it wouldn’t happen straight away.
Fotografie: Tensions rise between Russia and Ukraine
Ukrainian servicemen of the Mechanized Brigade drive vehicles at an undisclosed location in the Luhansk Region, Ucraina, a gennaio 25.
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Ukrainian servicemen of the Mechanized Brigade service vehicles at an undisclosed location in the Luhansk Region, Ucraina, a gennaio 25.
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Ground crew unload weapons and other military hardware delivered by the United States at Boryspil Airport near Kyiv on January 25 in Boryspil, Ucraina.
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A Ukrainian serviceman of the 30th Army Brigade seen outside of Svitlodarsk, Ucraina, a gennaio 23.
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A convoy of Russian armored vehicles moves along a highway in Crimea on Tuesday January 18. Russia has concentrated an estimated 100,000 troops with tanks and other heavy weapons near Ukraine in what the West fears could be a prelude to an invasion.
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Members of the Ukrainian military in a front line trench at Katerynivka, in the Luhansk Oblast province of eastern Ukraine on Tuesday January 18.
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Servicemen take their position in a trench at the line of separation near Yasne village, south west of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Friday January 14.
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Russian troops take part in drills at the Kadamovskiy firing range in the Rostov region in southern Russia, martedì, 14 dicembre.
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US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman (L) and Russian deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov (R) pose for pictures as they attend security talks on soaring tensions over Ukraine at the US Permanent Mission in Geneva on January 10.
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A Ukrainian Military Forces servicemen strokes a cat in a trench at the front line with Russia-backed separatists near to Avdiivka, southeastern Ukraine, a gennaio 9.
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A Ukrainian soldier takes a rest near a fighting position on the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on December 31, 2021.
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Fotografie: Tensions rise between Russia and Ukraine
President Joe Biden speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone from his private residence in Wilmington, Delaware, on Thursday December 30.
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Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces, the military reserve of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, holding wooden replicas of Kalashnikov rifles, take part in a military exercise near Kiev on December 25.
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Fotografie: Tensions rise between Russia and Ukraine
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, centro, attends a round table as Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, sinistra, greets Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin, destra, at an Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels with the Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s border as the main point of focus on Wednesday, dicembre 15.
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A Russian tank seen during a military drill at Molkino training ground in the Krasnodar region on Tuesday, dicembre 14.
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A Russian serviceman looks through binoculars as he takes part in drills at the Kadamovskiy firing range on Tuesday, dicembre 14.
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A Ukrainian serviceman walks out of a dugout on the frontline with Russia-backed separatists near the village of Pesky, Donetsk region, a dicembre 14.
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Ukrainian soldiers walk toward a destroyed building in Marinka on December 8.
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Ukrainian soldiers talk and drink tea in in Marinka on December 8.
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A destroyed police impound yard is seen in Marinka on December 8.
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Ukrainian soldiers wait in a building near the front line in Marinka on December 8.
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Students play while waiting for the bus after school in Krasnohorivka, Ucraina, a dicembre 8.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with US President Joe Biden via video conference to discuss the escalating tensions martedì, dicembre 7.
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A Ukrainian soldier rests near a fighting position on the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels near Katerinivka, Ucraina, a dicembre 7.
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Ukrainian soldiers walk near Katerinivka on December 7.
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In this handout photo from the Ukrainian Presidency, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visits the front line in Donbass, Ucraina, di lunedi, dicembre 6.
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Fotografie: Tensions rise between Russia and Ukraine
A Ukrainian soldier cooks in a shelter near Debaltsevo, Ucraina, di venerdì, dicembre 3.
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A Ukrainian soldier looks out from a fighting position on the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels near Debaltsevo on December 3.
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Ukrainian soldiers walk in a trench along the front line in Avdiika, Ucraina, di giovedì, dicembre 2.
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A Ukrainian soldier checks the situation near Svetlodarsk, Ucraina, a dicembre 2.
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A Ukrainian soldier enters a building in Avdiivka, Ucraina, di mercoledì, dicembre 1.
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A Ukrainian soldier’s mud-covered boots are seen at a front-line position in the industrial zone of Avdiivka on December 1.
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Ukrainian soldiers are seen at a base built into the skeletal remains of a tire factory in Avdiivka on December 1.
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Ukrainian soldiers relax in their barracks in Avdiivka on December 1.
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This satellite image shows Russian troops in Yelna, Russia, in novembre 9. Satellite photos taken that month revealed Russian hardware — including self-propelled guns, battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles — on the move at a training ground roughly 186 miglia (300 km) from the border.
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NATO sees ‘room for progress’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday the US’s written response to Russia “sets out a serious diplomatic path forward should Russia choose it.”
The US has repeatedly said Putin’s central demand, that the US and NATO commit to never admitting Ukraine to the alliance, is non-negotiable.
Blinken declined to detail specifics presented to Moscow in the written response, but reiterated the West’s public response to uphold NATO’s “open-door policy,” rejecting Moscow’s demands that NATO commit to never admitting Ukraine.
“There is no change. There will be no change,” Blinken said of US and NATO support for the alliance’s open-door policy.
“We make clear that there are core principles that we are committed to uphold and defend, including Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the right of states to choose their own security arrangements and alliances,” Ha aggiunto.
NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that the alliance’s written response was sent in “parallel with the United States.”
Although the positions of Moscow and the alliance are “far apart,” the NATO chief outlined three main areas where NATO sees “room for progress.” He asked that Moscow and NATO reopen their “respective offices in Moscow and in Brussels.”
It is unclear whether the latest diplomatic overture, which Moscow had sought, will change the course of talks between Russia and the West that have continued over the past several weeks.
Troop buildup rings alarm bells
'Partner strategico più importante' — who have been at war for nearly eight years since Russia annexed Crimea and Russia-backed separatists took control of the eastern Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Luhansk — are desperate for reprieve from the drumbeats of war.
In un file opinion article published on CNN, Olesia Markovic described how the Russian troop buildup at the border was ringing alarm bells for Ukrainian society.
“People admit the uncertainty and the lack of clear emergency instructions are draining their intellectual and emotional resources, making it hard to focus on current tasks and their ability to make long-term plans,” she writes.
Di giovedì, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Moscow, not Kyiv, must make concessions to defuse tensions in the region.
“The logic that Ukraine always has to make concessions in order to prevent Russia from being more aggressive… doesn’t work this way,” Kuleba told journalists during a visit to Copenhagen.
“I firmly believe that it’s important for Western countries to succeed in this particular crisis, for the reasons that I mentioned, because in recent years, Russia has been attacking not only Ukraine,” Egli ha detto, pointing to Moscow using gas supplies, alleged cyberattacks and other tactics to hit the West.
