Lavrov calls for negotiating guarantees, not choosing which side to support
This week Russia and the United States and NATO held security guarantees talks on three tracks
MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called upon foreign partners to unite and to negotiate and agree on security guarantees "the adult way", and not try to choose which side to support on this issue.
"In the current situation the choice is to be made not on who specifically is to be supported. Everybody should unite and come to terms the adult way to ensure the pledges pronounced by our Western counterparts concerning the indivisibility of security and their vows not to strengthen somebody’s security at the expense of others be translated into reality," Lavrov said on Friday, while speaking at a news conference devoted to Russia’s diplomacy in 2021.
This week Russia and the United States and NATO held security guarantees talks on three tracks. On Monday, there were Russian-US consultations in Geneva, in Brussels the Russia-NATO Council met in session on Wednesday, and on Thursday there followed a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council.
The gist of Moscow’s stance is confined to three ideas: pullout of US nuclear weapons from Europe, termination of the deployment of conventional forces and creation of military infrastructures near Russia’s borders and NATO’s official pledge to give up plans for the admission of Ukraine and Georgia. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said that Moscow was expecting the discussions to produce a written reply from the United States and NATO to its initiatives. On this basis Russia will be making decisions whether there should be more talks or other measures to ensure its security.