MOSCOW, January 13. /TASS/. The United States and NATO want to discuss only security guarantee issues and on terms convenient for them, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with RTVI on Thursday.
Responding to a request to characterize the Western diplomats’ reaction to the Russian security proposals with one phrase, Ryabkov described it as follows: "Let us talk but only on the issues of interest for us, i.e. the West."
"’No’ was not said, but talking only on the terms and issues more suitable for the West is not an option for us because we are interested in the opposite," the senior Russian diplomat stressed.
"We need what I have spoken about while the rest is just an addition, with all the importance that we pay, for example, to the issue of the post INF [Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty] and the issue of the moratorium on the deployment of such systems in Europe," the high-ranking Russian diplomat pointed out.
"This is important, considering that the current situation has changed so dramatically and the issue formulated by Moscow about the need to come to terms is so urgent because we have nowhere to retreat now. We already see that other measures and other techniques in the security sphere will be subsequently taken towards the opponents, if they ignore our demands and our needs," he stressed.
A Russia-NATO Council meeting held in Brussels on January 12 marked the second stage of consultations between Moscow and Western countries on Russia’s proposals on European security and was a follow-up of the negotiations between Russia and the United States in Geneva on January 10.