Switzerland is ready to host again the summit of Russia and the United States. This was announced on Friday, January 21, by President Ignazio Cassis at a press conference in Geneva.
“Switzerland is always ready to host dialogue between these powers in order to promote solutions that are aimed at peace and security in the world,” the head of state said.
Earlier that day, Lavrov and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken held talks on security guarantees in Geneva. They lasted an hour and a half, the Zvezda TV channel reports.
The parties discussed Russian proposals on security guarantees, the Minsk agreements, relations between Russia and NATO and a number of other international issues, RT reports.
Lavrov said that during the meeting Russia heard a preliminary verbal reaction to its proposals for security guarantees. He also noted that it was impossible to read the documents prepared by the State Department regarding Russian “disinformation”.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov noted that the United States promised to provide a response to Russia’s proposals on security guarantees next week.
Before the meeting, Blinken said that he did not expect breakthroughs from negotiations with the Russian Foreign Minister. At the same time, the head of the State Department recalled that the two sides had already held talks on security issues. Thus, consultations were held in Geneva on January 10, a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council was held in Brussels on January 12, and a meeting of the OSCE Council in Vienna on January 13.
On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry published draft agreements between Russia, the United States and NATO on security guarantees. The document assumes, in particular, non-expansion of NATO to the east, the withdrawal of the alliance’s weapons to the positions of 1997, as well as the non-deployment of strike weapons near Russian borders.
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.
