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Contacts concerning US, NATO replies to security proposals due soon — Lavrov

On December 17, 2021, the Russian Foreign Ministry published drafts of a treaty with the United States on security guarantees and also an agreement on measures of ensuring the security of Russia and the NATO member-states

MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. Contacts for discussing the United States’ and NATO’s replies to Russia’s draft agreements on security guarantees may take place within days, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following talks with Croatia’s Foreign Minister Gordan Radman in Moscow on Monday.

"We firmly expect to get promised specific replies to the draft agreements that Russia handed to the United States and NATO. Some contacts on this score are due within days," he said.

Lavrov explained that Russia wished the US and the North Atlantic Alliance answer the questions how they would act on their previously assumed commitments.

"The gist of our questions is what the West is going to do specifically to act on its obligations contained in the documents of the OSCE summits in Istanbul and in Astana in 2010," Lavrov explained. "These documents state that the OSCE countries shall not try to strengthen their security at the expense of other states. Also, it is written down there that no single country or group of countries or organization can enjoy privileged responsibility for maintaining peace and stability in this region."

The Russian foreign minister stressed that this was part and parcel of the compromises and the solutions made at the summit level in the OSCE. "In any case would like to tell you once again that the Russian leadership is capable of firmly protecting its interests from the standpoint of security and from the standpoint of ensuring the rights of Russian citizens," he said.

On December 17, 2021, the Russian Foreign Ministry published drafts of a treaty with the United States on security guarantees and also an agreement on measures of ensuring the security of Russia and the NATO member-states. Consultations on these issues were held in Geneva on January 10. On January 12, the Russia-NATO Council met in session in Brussels and on January 13 there was a session of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna. The initiatives in question were examined.