All news
Updated at: 

US will not agree to go back to 1997, deputy secretary of state says

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said that the USA is not going to agree that NATO cannot expand any further

BRUSSELS, January 13. /TASS/. The United States will not agree that NATO cannot expand any further and is unwilling to go back to 1997, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said at a press conference following Wednesday’s meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels.

"We were basically saying to the Russians, ‘Some of the things you’ve put on the table are non-starters for us.’ We are not going to agree that NATO cannot expand any further. We are not going to agree to go back to 1997," she pointed out.

Sherman also said that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project undermines energy security and the national security "of a significant part of the Euro-Atlantic community".

"Where Nord Stream 2 is concerned, we’ve been clear about our position. It is a Russian geopolitical project that undermines energy security and the national security of a significant part of the Euro-Atlantic community," she pointed out.

The construction of Nord Stream 2 was fully completed on September 10, 2021. It was originally planned to be completed by the end of 2019, but its construction was delayed due to US sanctions. The gas pipeline, which runs from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany, includes two lines with a total capacity of 55 bln cubic meters per year.