Saturday, January 08, 2022
Before the talks with Moscow
Washington indicates the first issues
With its troop deployment on the border with Ukraine, Moscow is forcing new talks with the West. Moscow is sending a catalog of demands for these. The US is drawing its red line and making it clear that there will be no quick agreements. At the same time, they suggest lines of compromise.
Before bilateral negotiations with Moscow on Monday in Geneva, the US side dampened expectations and warned against Russian disinformation. “There will be no firm commitments in these talks, which will be serious and concrete, but exploratory,” said a US government official on the phone with journalists. At the same time, he indicated that progress on topics such as maneuvers or the stationing of offensive missile systems was possible in the negotiations.
All issues would then be examined in Washington and discussed with allies later that week, he said. He would not be surprised, however, if the Russian side spread false reports about US concessions in order to “create a split among the allies”.
The meeting takes place against the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis. The US government official said the delegations would likely meet for a preliminary talk on Sunday evening after arriving in Geneva. The actual talks between the USA and Russia in the Swiss city would take place on Monday. The US delegation is led by Vice Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.
A meeting of the NATO-Russia Council is scheduled for Wednesday (January 12) in Brussels – the first in two and a half years. Thereafter there will be talks on Thursday (January 13th) in Vienna within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
“Moscow will not decide who is a NATO member”
The US has been accusing Russia of building troops in areas on the border with Ukraine for weeks. It is feared that Russian soldiers could invade the ex-Soviet republic. Russia denies such plans. Russia, for its part, is resisting the admission of further Eastern European countries to NATO and is demanding a guarantee that Ukraine will never become a member of the alliance.
The US government official said it was not up to Moscow to decide which countries other states would enter into alliances with. “In the context of NATO, we call this an open door, and neither Russia nor any other country will slam it.” In the bilateral negotiations, however, progress on issues such as maneuvers or the stationing of offensive missile systems is conceivable. The US and its allies are ready for talks on limiting certain military activities in Eastern Europe. A mutual limitation of military exercises and the stationing of missiles in the region could also be discussed.
The government representative again warned Moscow of a military escalation in the Ukraine crisis. He said such a move would result in financial and economic sanctions as well as armament of Ukraine by the US, among other things.