MOSCOW, January 21. /TASS/. At the foreign minister level Russian-US talks in Geneva the American side tried to impose a scenario that would have put the focus on an "alleged Russian aggression against Ukraine," while all other issues would have remained on the sidelines, the deputy speaker of Russia’s Federation Council, Konstantin Kosachyov, said on Friday.
"As is known, the two sides approached the talks from different angles. Russia asked very specific questions about security guarantees. Without these it would be impossible to resolve any of the current disputes, including the Ukrainian dossier. And the US side went to great lengths in its attempts to demonstrate that the allied West is focused exclusively on attempts at stopping a ‘Russian aggression against Ukraine’, while regarding all other issues as minor ones," Kosachyov said on his Facebook page.
The senior legislator pointed out that what Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after the talks indicated that this was precisely the type of scenario that the Americans had tried to dictate.
"However, in the end, a discussion of more important issues managed to be conducted. For instance, there is a promise to present to the Russian side a written answer to our proposals," Kosachyov said.
He believes that the content of Washington’s reply "to a certain extent can be predicted already now," however, what is being said aloud at the moment "more often looks like propaganda and contradicts the realities and the fundamental documents in the field of European security."
"It remains to be seen what exactly will be written on paper. There will be no place for being blatantly evasive," Kosachyov said.
He stressed that in the course of the negotiations it was stated once again that Russia pronounced no threats against Ukraine in any official documents or statements, and for that reason there were no reasons for suspecting an allegedly looming aggression.
"As far as threats by the top Ukrainian officials against Russians are concerned, they have been expressed more than once. There have been ever more frequent calls for handling the conflict in Donbass from the position of strength. In this context the growing hysteria about "a Russian invasion" looks very much like mass media preparations, and an attempt to present Kiev’s actions as ‘defensive.’ The efforts to beef up Ukraine’s military hardware potential in combination with speculations about "a Russian aggression" look very much like preparations for a large-scale provocation," Kosachyov wrote.
He stated once again that without Kiev’s compliance with the Minsk agreements there would be no solution of the intra-Ukrainian conflict and of the artificially created crisis in the West’s relations with Russia.
"We are waiting for a written reply," Kosachyov said, adding that the final results of negotiations by Russian and US foreign ministers "should be judged by the actions that will follow.".