Federation Council member Alexei Pushkov convicted US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken of ignorance of history after he said that NATO had never promised Russia not to expand eastward. The senator wrote about this on Friday, January 7 on Telegram.
“Blinken doesn’t know history well. Before the unification of Germany, which was then the highest priority for the United States and their President Bush Sr., Blinken’s predecessor, US Secretary of State James Baker said [советскому лидеру Михаилу] Gorbachev and [министру иностранных дел СССР Эдуарду] Shevardnadze that in the event of German reunification, the United States was ready to make a commitment that NATO “will not move an inch to the east,” Pushkov wrote in a message.
According to him, Gorbachev miscalculated that he did not oblige the Americans to fix this on paper. That is why Russia is now demanding legally binding and fixed promises.
Earlier that day, Blinken said NATO had never promised Russia not to expand eastward.
He also reported that the United States and its allies in negotiations on security with the Russian Federation will continue to actively seek a diplomatic relaxation of tension around Ukraine. Blinken noted that the United States will give a decisive response to further Russian aggression, but a diplomatic solution is still possible and preferable.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the organization is ready to listen to Russia’s security concerns, but expects that Moscow will also hear the concerns of the alliance countries. According to him, NATO allies will conduct “a dialogue on security with Russia directly and openly, but there is always a risk that diplomacy will not bring results.”
In recent weeks, a number of Western media outlets have reported about the alleged plans of the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine. So, on December 4, the American newspaper The Washington Post, citing officials in the US administration, reported that Russia allegedly intends to invade Ukraine at the beginning of next year, using “up to 175 thousand troops.”
Moscow has repeatedly rejected such information. So, on December 23, during a press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin added that because of such statements, one gets the impression that the Ukrainian side is “preparing a third operation” in Donbass.
Russian-American talks on strategic stability and security issues will be held on January 10 in Geneva. Thereafter, on January 12, the issue of European security and the situation in Ukraine will be discussed at a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council and on January 13 with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
On the eve of this round of consultations, on the night of December 31, Putin had a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden. As the press secretary of the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov noted, this conversation became a logical continuation of the talks held in the online Russia-US summit in early December.
After the phone call, Biden said he expects progress from the upcoming rounds of talks. The head of the White House stressed that during the upcoming talks with Russia, the parties will discuss mutual concerns.
In response to a question about whether sanctions against Moscow could follow if Russian troops remain on the border with Ukraine, Biden said that he did not intend to discuss the details of the negotiations publicly.
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.
