GENEVA, January 9. /TASS/. In the event of the failure to reach agreements on security guarantees Moscow will be forced to turn to other means of ensuring the necessary balance of forces and "deterring opponents," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, who has arrived for the Russian-US talks on security guarantees, said in an interview with TASS on Sunday.
"NATO declares indivisibility [of security] only in the format of its 'gathering', being vain of this fact - just listen to the statements made by NATO representatives, read their documents. But we have not committed ourselves to all this, with another line and the basic agreement being obvious to us. This means that in a situation similar to the current one the misinterpreted strengthening of the west’s own security will turn into the weakening of this security because we will be forced to turn to other means of ensuring the necessary balance, of deterring the opponent, if you will, in the event of the lack of required and urgent agreement on legal guarantees," he said.
The beginning of the first round of Russia-US talks on security issues in Geneva is scheduled for the evening of January 9, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier, adding that it would be held in a narrow format. The work will continue in an extended format on January 10. The meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels will take place on January 12, while the talks of representatives of Russia and the OSCE in Vienna - on January 13.