MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. Western countries went to extremes demanding that Russia ‘send troops to the barracks’ on its own soil, while they opened up military bases on the territories of the Baltic States and in northern European countries, as well as in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said speaking at a press conference on the results of Russia’s diplomatic activities in 2021 on Friday.
During a special press phone call earlier, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who led the American delegation at the Russia-US consultations on security guarantees in Geneva, told reporters that sending Russian troops located on the Russian-Ukrainian border back to the barracks would prove that Moscow had no plans to invade that country.
"We are categorically opposed to developments, where we are requested to send [our] troops ‘to the barracks’ on our own soil, yet simultaneously the Americans, Canadians, British actually ensconce themselves under the guise of a rotation (a very provisional rotation) in the Baltic States and in the countries of northern Europe, as they open military bases near the Black Sea. What’s more, the British are building a base in Ukraine: they are setting up a base in the Sea of Azov," Lavrov said. "This is an inadmissible approach."
"Therefore, the time chosen [for Russia to present the West with legally binding proposals on security guarantees] simply reflects the period, when the West went to extremes, frankly speaking," Russia’s top diplomat stated.
Lavrov stressed that the Western countries "in breach of all obligations and common sense" opted to exacerbate the situation.
On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry released a draft agreement on security guarantees between Russia and the United States and a draft agreement on ensuring the security of Russia and NATO member states. Consultations on the issue took place in Geneva on January 10, followed by a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels on January 12 and a session of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Permanent Council in Vienna on January 13.