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Abu Dhabi talks, US’ readiness to discuss security guarantees: Lavrov’s remarks

According to the top Russian diplomat, Moscow will take into account the accumulated experience during trilateral talks on Ukraine in Abu Dhabi

MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/. The parties to the trilateral talks on Ukraine in Abu Dhabi will discuss collective security guarantees, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the International Forum on Collective Security.

According to the top Russian diplomat, Russia hopes that the US administration will have enough resolve to continue dialogue on security guarantees in the context of Ukraine.

TASS has summarized the foreign minister’s key statements.

Abu Dhabi talks

Russia will take into account the accumulated experience during trilateral talks on Ukraine in Abu Dhabi: "We have accumulated huge experience and I hope it will be useful for us during current talks in Abu Dhabi, which are starting right now

The parties to the trilateral talks on Ukraine in Abu Dhabi will discuss collective security guarantees: "[In Abu Dhabi], at the suggestion of the United States, which we supported, collective security guarantees for the region will be discussed, under the guarantees that will take effect once a substantive and comprehensive settlement has been reached."

Discussions of security guarantees

Russia hopes the US administration will have enough resolve to continue dialogue on security guarantees in the context of Ukraine: "Having no illusions and having learned from experience, we very much hope that this time the US administration will have enough resolve to continue this dialogue with a view to achieving an honest balance of interests, in which no one’s security will be undermined."

Russia has no illusions about the United States, despite Washington’s willingness to engage in dialogue with Moscow under President Donald Trump: "As for the Trump administration, we harbor no illusions - want to point at that right away. However, without harboring illusions and understanding the deep-seated contradictions regarding how international politics should develop in order to move forward, it’s certainly always better to talk. This was the case during the Cold War, when our military personnel communicated with the Americans, and this is what’s happening now in our relations with the United States."

"This is what distinguishes the current administration from the Biden administration, which, as I have said, arrogantly refused even to discuss collective security guarantees, resulting in a lack of dialogue."

Donbass

The Kiev regime was preparing, with Western support, a large-scale campaign to violently suppress Donbass in 2021: "The latest attempt came in December 2021, when we sought to prevent the inevitable. The president has repeatedly explained this: we knew for certain that serious preparations were underway, with Western support, for a large-scale campaign to violently suppress Donbass - the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics."

"We could not allow that to happen, especially since the leaders of the republics had asked Russia for protection."

International organizations and Eurasian security architecture

Russia does not intend to "subordinate" any structures in Eurasia; what matters is creating a unified system linking the organizations: "We do not believe that we need to create something that would subordinate existing organizations, including the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which is based on very clear, legally binding principles."

"But [what matters is] coming together and looking at what we already have, what subregional structures exist and what ties have been established between them."

Russia has a position paper outlining what a new security architecture in Eurasia should look like.