MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. Some fundamental instruments safeguarding European security are not functioning now, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in a televised interview with the Rossiya-24 channel on Wednesday.

"Revolutionary security instruments were created on the platform of the organization, which was initially the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and which was later transformed into the Organization (for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE - TASS). First of all, it is the treaty on intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles (the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, known as the INF Treaty - TASS), the treaty on conventional weapons in Europe (the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty - TASS), which preamble says that is the cornerstone of security in Europe, as well as the Treaty on Open Skies and so on and so forth. What do we see now? We see that these mechanisms are not working," the deputy foreign minister said.

Grushko added that the United States had withdrawn from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty), which "is generally the foundation of any arms control, both in the strategic dimension and in the regional dimension," and from the INF Treaty and the Treaty on Open Skies.

According to Grushko, Washington also stopped the allies from ratifying an agreement to adapt the CFE Treaty, "which, had it been implemented, would certainly have played a crucial role in easing the political and military situation in Europe."

The Russian deputy foreign minister emphasized that all preconditions were available to keep moving "towards a safer world," based on the CFE Treaty.

"In this regard, the NATO-Russia Founding Act did play its role, as it would have been completely unjustified to defy such a factor as NATO in those circumstances. We had to build a relationship bearing in mind that it would be filled with new contents, which is, it would be a relationship of cooperation, a relationship aimed at utilizing the organization’s resources to parry new threats and challenges, which even then were already on the horizon, and first and foremost, the terrorist threat," Grushko said.

The diplomat pointed out that at that time NATO had already "started heading towards its old agenda," and made decisions on enlarging. Nevertheless, the Founding Act outlined the provisions fundamental to Russia’s security, stating that the alliance would not deploy substantial combat forces on new members’ territories on a permanent basis, that it would not deploy any infrastructure or nuclear weapons to those countries, or would not change anything in its nuclear policy.

"Nowadays, neither this context exists, nor that material basis, along with, of course, the very nature of the relationship between Russia and NATO, as a result of the aggressive policy of the alliance that has once more arrogated to itself the right to be the master of destinies. In Euro Atlantic and Eurasian space there is at least one country - the Russian Federation - that has strongly objected to this policy and warned about its dangerous reverberations."

Dialogue on security guarantees

In December 2021, Russia sent the United States and NATO its proposals on security guarantees, which included demands for legally binding agreements that the alliance would not advance further eastward and that it would pull back the military infrastructure to its 1997 positioning. In late January, Washington and Brussels handed Moscow their written responses, which said that the West would not make any fundamental concessions to Moscow. Later, Russia indicated this fact in its written response, published in February.