Russia faces security negotiations with EE.UU. with an immovable stance on the non-interference of the OTAN in his backyard, especially Ukraine, and with the feeling that his results will shape relations with the West for years to come.
“We will not make any concessions,” warned Sergei Riabkov, Russian deputy foreign minister and chief negotiator in the negotiations with the US in Geneva today.
For the Kremlin, nothing has changed since Russian President Vladimir Putin asked the West for security guarantees in mid-November, when it seemed that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was only a matter of time.
If possible, over the weeks what seemed like a request has turned into a written demand: If you don’t want me to invade the neighboring country, give me what I want.
Manual for Coexistence with the US
Russia put a high price on peaceful coexistence with the US. The binding treaty would exclude the deployment of nuclear weapons outside the borders of both countries and the return to their silos of weapons already deployed.
The US and its allies will also not be able to deploy short- and medium-range ground-based missiles in areas from which they can hit targets on Russian territory.
Moscow and Washington should refrain from deploying troops and weapons in areas that the other country considers a threat to its national security. That would include the flights of strategic bombers equipped with nuclear warheads or conventional weapons and surface ships.
Nor will Washington be able to establish military bases on the territory of the former Soviet republics and those countries that are not members of the Euro-Atlantic bloc, use their infrastructures or develop military cooperation with those States.
“I can say that, of course, we are somewhat disappointed by the signals that we have received in recent days from Washington and also from Brussels,” he said.
Riabkov did not rule out that the first round of consultations is also the last due to lack of progress.
NATO, review the results of the Cold War
Although Moscow denies it, everything points to a review of the results of the Cold War. After its victory by default of the USSR (1991), NATO carried out two enlargements in 1999 and 2004, which included Eastern European countries and the three Baltic republics.
“That is to say, that NATO return to the positions equivalent to those it had in 1997,” when the act that regulates relations between the two parties was signed, Riabkov said today.
That would mean that the Atlantic Alliance would withdraw its troops and weapons from member countries that share a border with Russia such as Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. In addition, the allies must exclude a future expansion of the bloc, including Ukraine or Georgia, the Kremlin’s main red line.
“We need legal guarantees of the non-expansion of NATO,” Riabkov insisted to the RIA Novosti agency.
It will also limit military maneuvers at the brigade level to avoid incidents and renounce “all military activity” in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Kazakhstan and the backyard
What Russia means by backyard has become very clear during the current crisis in Kazakhstan, where a significant Russian minority lives.
After rejecting all requests for intervention since its inception twenty years ago, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the post-Soviet military alliance, immediately heeded the Kazakh request for the dispatch of a peacekeeping force.
Although the requirement of foreign aggression is not met and the international terrorist threat raises many doubts inside and outside the Central Asian republic, the Russian airborne forces began today to fulfill their functions.
Despite the fact that the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, doubted “the need for foreign assistance” to Kazakhstan and recalled that “once the Russians are at your house, it is very difficult for them to leave,” Riabkov denied that said subject to be discussed in Geneva.
“What are we going to discuss with the Americans? That is an issue that does not concern them at all, “he told the Interfax agency.
Fear as a geopolitical weapon
The Russian Andrei Grachov, press officer of the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, blames the “western politicians” for the current situation.
“They were not up to the task. Gorbachev liberated the world from World War III and offered them the opportunity to start the 21st century together. The West, unfortunately, wasted the opportunity, “he told Efe from Paris, where he lives and recently published the book” The last day of the USSR. “
In his opinion, Western leaders saw the end of the Cold War as a “military victory” and, instead of creating a new world order for the good of humanity, they thought only of maintaining power and maintaining the same balance of forces. .
“The West now pays the price. Putin has recovered that old Soviet formula. The West will only listen to Russia if it is afraid of it, “he said.
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