WASHINGTON, February 9. /TASS/. Russia welcomes the fact that the US government has finally ‘matured’ for discussions on the principle of indivisible security, the Russian Embassy in the United States said in a statement on Tuesday.
The statement came in response to remarks, made by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman at the High-Level Inauguration Meeting of the Renewed OSCE European Security Dialogue on February 8.
"We welcome the fact that the American colleagues have finally "matured" to discuss the principle of indivisible security, which is central to the maintenance of peace and stability in the European region," the embassy said in a Facebook post.
At the same time, the Russian diplomatic mission noted that the US side continued to interpret this concept one-sidedly.
"The United States continues to interpret this concept one-sidedly and focus on the right of countries to freely choose military alliances. At the same time, they ignore the obligation that accompanies this one: not to strengthen their own security at the expense of the security of other states," the statement says.
According to the embassy, Washington "hypocritically talks about NATO's right to further expansion, denying the fact that pushing the alliance's military infrastructure to the Russian borders poses an existential threat to us."
"We recommend that the State Department representatives read carefully once again the message of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov handed over to them on January 28, which explains in detail the nexus between these rights and the obligations enshrined in the OSCE declarations adopted in Istanbul and Astana," Russian diplomats said.
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on Tuesday Washington agrees that discussions on indivisible security are important, but accuses Russia of undermining it with some of its activities.
Russia’s Permanent Representative at the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said on Tuesday Moscow expected Western states - parties to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to respond to its query about their understanding of the principle of indivisible security and give their reply individually and not collectively.
On December 17, Russia’s Foreign Ministry published drafts of an agreement with the United States on security guarantees and an agreement between Russia and the NATO member states on security measures. Russia expects a prompt reaction to a message by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on indivisible security sent to the heads of the diplomatic agencies of the US, Canada and some European states on January 28.