by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Tom Balmforth
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia on Friday unveiled the “security pledges” it demands from NATO, including a pledge to end all military activity in Ukraine and Eastern Europe and to end enlargement Alliance, while deeming the response so far “not very encouraging”.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov, who conveyed these grievances to US Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried during an interview in Moscow on Wednesday, called on the United States to take these proposals seriously and to initiate discussions from Saturday, suggesting a meeting in Geneva. Sergei Riabkov, however, later declared himself extremely disappointed by the signals sent by the West.
In Washington, a senior official in Joe Biden’s administration said the United States was ready to discuss the proposals but warned: “There are some things in these documents that the Russians know are unacceptable.”
“We will not go back on the fundamental principles on which European security is built, including the right of all countries to decide their own future and their foreign policy, free from any external interference,” said the spokesperson for the White House Jen Psaki.
The United States will respond in the course of next week and discuss with its allies, she added.
Amidst strong diplomatic tensions between Moscow and Washington over the Ukrainian dossier, Russia warned a week ago of the risk of a major confrontation with the West if the United States and its allies do not reflect. seriously to bring security to Moscow.
POWER OF VETO
According to Washington, Russia has massed more than 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders, a possible prelude to an invasion. Moscow denies any bellicose intent, denounces the aggressive behavior of Kiev and the West, and declares that these troop movements are purely defensive in nature.
“The line followed by the United States and NATO in recent years of deliberately worsening the security situation is absolutely unacceptable and extremely dangerous,” Sergei Riabkov told reporters.
Moscow’s main proposals appear in two documents – a draft treaty with NATO countries, another with the United States – that the Russian Foreign Ministry has made public.
Russia mainly demands that no additional troops or military equipment be deployed by NATO outside the countries which made up the Alliance in May 1997 – before the start of the expansion towards the East – except in exceptional cases and in agreement with Moscow.
This would provide Russia with a de facto right of veto over NATO decisions – already deemed unacceptable by the Alliance – and would imply the abandonment by NATO of all military activity in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. , in the Caucasus and in Central Asia.
The treaty with the United States would at the same time prevent Moscow and Washington from deploying nuclear weapons outside their territories, which would put an end to NATO’s arrangements for the sharing of nuclear resources, through which European countries of the Alliance provide air assets capable of transporting American nuclear weapons.
For British scholar Sam Greene, a specialist on Russia at King’s College London, with these detailed proposals on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin “draws a line around post-Soviet space and plants a sign ‘forbidding entry ‘”.
(With the Moscow editorial staff, Robin Emmott in Brussels, Steve Holland in Washington and Trevor Hunnicutt on board Air Force One; French version Jean-Stéphane Brosse, edited by Sophie Louet)