Sergei Ryabkov
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Russia would prefer to negotiate security guarantees, primarily with the United States, they say in Moscow.
At last week’s security talks, the United States expressed its willingness to work bilaterally with Russia on strategic stability. This was announced on Wednesday, January 19, by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
He noted that Washington determined practical progress in the areas of interest to Moscow by strict adherence to the principles of reciprocity, the mandatory participation of US allies and partners in resolving issues affecting their interests, as well as the adoption by the Russian side of measures for the so-called de-escalation – the withdrawal of forces and assets to an indefinite space on an indefinite distance within the territory of the Russian Federation.
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“At the same time, last week the American side expressed readiness for further work on the issue of strategic stability on a bilateral basis, including in the interests of agreeing on a new agreement or agreements to replace START,” Ryabkov said.
According to him, Russia would prefer to agree on security guarantees, primarily with the United States.
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“I will not hide the fact that we would prefer to find mutual understanding and come to an agreement, primarily with the Americans. Involving too wide a range of countries in this process seems counterproductive to us,” he said.
At the same time, Russia will not make any changes to the deployment of its armed forces on its own territory under pressure from outside. “As for the American demands to urgently withdraw troops from the border with Ukraine, we will continue to patiently explain to our colleagues that the relevant forces and means are on our territory, and we are not going to make any changes to their movement under pressure from outside,” he stressed. he.
Ryabkov also blamed the US and NATO for the security situation in Europe.
“Indeed, the situation in the field of European security is critical. It has become so through the fault of Washington and NATO, which, among other things, use Ukraine as a lever of pressure on Russia,” said the Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation.
In addition, Ryabkov said that the United States and NATO have not yet given written responses to Russia’s proposals on security guarantees.
“We have not received written comments on our proposals from the Americans and NATO members. I would like to hope that this will happen in the near future. As the Russian side has repeatedly emphasized, the issue is urgent, we are not ready to wait forever, we are not ready to plunge into the usual diplomatic, bureaucratic mess regarding what formats are optimal for this,” the diplomat said.
On the eve of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the Alliance will soon submit written proposals to the Russian Federation on security.
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