“We have no plan, no intention to attack Ukraine, and there cannot be,” said Sergei Riabkov, Russian deputy foreign minister.
Russia assured the United States today, during the first round of security negotiations in Geneva, that has no intention of attacking Ukraine, while he considered that it would be a “great mistake” if NATO refuses to grant security guarantees to Moscow.
“We have no plans, no intention to attack Ukraine, and there cannot be“Said Sergei Riabkov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and chief negotiator, at a press conference at his country’s permanent mission to the UN broadcast live on public television.
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Riabkov stressed that he also insisted to his American colleague, the US Undersecretary of State, Wendy Sherman, that there is no reason to fear a possible escalation in relation to Ukraine, who denounced together with Washington plans for a Russian invasion for the beginning of 2022.
“All operations for the military preparation of the troops are carried out on the margins of our territory, so there is no reason to fear an escalation scenario,” he said.
At the same time, he insisted that Russia needs guarantees “written in stone” that Ukraine and Georgia will never become members of NATO.
“We would like the formula adopted at the Bucharest summit in 2008 to be withdrawn at the Madrid summit and replaced by the following: ‘Ukraine and Georgia will never be members of the Atlantic Alliance,'” he asserted.
Regarding the possibility of the Alliance renouncing said expansion during the allied summit next June, he admitted that there was no progress in today’s negotiations.
“We insist that it is absolutely mandatory for us to ensure that Ukraine will never be a member of NATO,” he said.
Riabkov acknowledged that the negotiations were “complicated, but very professional, deep and concrete,” with no attempt to avoid “tough issues.”
“We have the impression that the US side has taken our initiatives very seriously,” he said.
The diplomat argued in Geneva today that security guarantees on the non-expansion of NATO are an “absolute imperative” for Russia, as is the case with the deployment of offensive weapons that dawns on Russian territory.
Furthermore, the Atlantic Alliance must renounce the “assimilation” of the territory of the countries that joined the bloc since 1997, that is, Eastern Europe and the three Baltic republics.
“If there is no progress in these three key directions (…), the work in other aspects, although they are important, will be on the wing,” he said.
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Riabkov admitted that Russian diplomacy consists of seeking “compromises” and a “balance of interests”, but stressed on these three issues that Russia cannot “make concessions.”
He called the US to “the maximum responsibility”, since “the risks related to a possible worsening of the confrontation cannot be underestimated.”
Regarding a possible second round of negotiations with the US, the Russian deputy minister assured that Moscow will make a decision after consultations with NATO on January 12 in Brussels and the meeting to be held the following day in Vienna within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
“In any case, this should not be prolonged. It cannot be transformed into a process that takes months or years,” he said.
Last December, Russian President Vladimir Putin “immediately” demanded security guarantees from the US and NATO. (I)
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