WASHINGTON, January 10. /TASS/. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov in Geneva and said the US is committed to the principle that countries are free to choose their own alliances, according to a statement by State Department Spokesman Ned Price.
According to the statement, Sherman and Ryabkov discussed the bilateral topics that Russia and the US would address during the extraordinary meeting of the Strategic Stability Dialogue on January 10.
"The Deputy Secretary stressed the United States’ commitment to the international principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the freedom of sovereign nations to choose their own alliances," Price said.
"The deputy secretary affirmed that the United States would welcome genuine progress through diplomacy," Price said. "The United States will discuss certain bilateral issues with Russia at the SSD, but will not discuss European security without our European Allies and partners."
Price was referring to the Strategic Stability Dialogue.
"The Deputy Secretary underscored that discussion of certain subjects would be reserved for the NATO-Russia Council meeting in Brussels on January 12 and the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna on January 13," he said in the statement.
Lt. Gen. James Mingus, director of operations, Joint Staff, and Deputy Defense Minister Col. Gen. Aleksander Fomin took part in the meeting, according to the statement.
The talks in the European capitals this week will focus Russia’s initiatives for security in the Euro-Atlantic region. The Russian Foreign Ministry on December 17, 2021 published Russia’s proposed draft agreements on security guarantees that Moscow expects from the US and NATO. The two treaties - with the US and NATO, respectively - would, among other things, halt NATO’s eastward expansion, including granting membership to Ukraine, and introduce limits on the deployment of serious offensive weapons, such as nuclear weapons.