The North Atlantic Alliance should not agree with the RF proposals on security guarantees. This was announced on December 22 by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielus Landsbergis in an interview with The Times.
“We do not think that any negotiations should start on what was proposed by Russia,” Landsbergis said.
The minister added that the countries of the alliance did not discuss the issue of the possible liquidation of the military base on the territory of Lithuania.
According to Landsbergis, such a decision is hardly possible due to the tense situation in the region. On the contrary, NATO needs to deploy more troops in Eastern Europe, the head of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said.
On the eve, NATO put the NATO Response Force (NRF) on high alert due to “Russian actions.” The increase in readiness is allegedly associated with a build-up of Russian forces near the border with Ukraine, a source in the alliance told Welt.
The Russian Foreign Ministry published draft agreements between Russia and the United States and NATO on security guarantees on December 17.
As stated in the document, the countries of the alliance undertake to exclude Ukraine from joining the alliance and further expansion. The United States must commit to exclude further expansion of NATO to the east and refuse to admit the states that were formerly part of the USSR into the alliance.
At the same time, Russia and NATO commit themselves not to create conditions that can be regarded as a threat by the other side. In addition, the parties confirm that they do not regard each other as adversaries. The parties to the treaty maintain a dialogue and interact to improve the mechanisms for preventing incidents on the high seas and in the air, primarily in the Baltic and the Black Sea region.
The press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov called the reports of Western media reports about the possible “invasion” of the Russian Federation into Ukraine as stuffing. According to him, the publication of such articles is “empty, groundless escalation of tension.”
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
