Russia says U.S. and NATO responses fail to address their main demand of not giving NATO membership to Ukraine
The Foreign Minister of Russia – Sergey Lavrov has said that Russia is not happy with the official response of United States (U.S.) and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) which rejects the Russian demand of not giving NATO membership to Ukraine.
The President of Russia – Vladimir Putin has read the written responses by both the U.S. and NATO and now Kremlin won’t be rushing to any conclusions.
Speaking on the occasion, the Spokesperson for Kremlin – Dmitry Peskov said, “The President already read the written responses. All the papers are with the President. It will take some time to analyse them, we will not rush to any conclusions.”
Russia has been firm on its demand of NATO withdrawing its troops and weapons from Ukraine and not extending new membership to any country. Lavrov said that U.S. and NATO had previously agreed within the context of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) not to expand at the expense of Russia’s safety.
Lavrov told the reporters, “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.”
Lavrov also said, “This principle is clearly stated. It has two main interrelated approaches. First, the right of every state to freely choose military alliances is recognized. Second: the obligation of each state not to strengthen its security at the expense of the security of others.”
Prior to this, the U.S. Secretary of State – Antony Blinken officially confirmed that it has rejected Russia’s demand of barring Ukraine from NATO. Blinken said that the U.S. response made its core principles clear, including Ukraine’s sovereignty and its right to choose to be part of security alliances such as NATO.
Taking it to twitter, the Secretary General of NATO – Jens Stoltenberg tweeted,
We have now conveyed our proposals to #Russia. #NATO firmly believes that tensions & disagreements must be resolved through dialogue & diplomacy, not through force or the threat of force. https://t.co/4dQcLYEsK6
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) January 26, 2022
Separately, the Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held a meeting where they agreed that a permanent ceasefire in eastern Ukraine must be observed unconditionally.
The meeting was held at Elysee Palace of the so-called Normandy Format, a four-way conversation between representatives from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.
The West is pushing for a diplomatic solution to the tensions through the full implementation of the Minsk agreements — a ceasefire protocol signed by Ukraine and Russia in 2015. The Ukrainian negotiator – Andriy Yermak said all parties were in support of a permanent ceasefire and Ukraine was ready to negotiate.
