After talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, his Russian colleague Sergei Lavrov criticized NATO. The eastward expansion is aimed at Russia. He hopes that the US will deliver proposals on Russian demands next week.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov in Geneva in search of a diplomatic way out of the Ukraine crisis. At Friday’s meeting, Blinken reiterated its warning against a Russian invasion of Ukraine: it would entail a “collective, swift and serious” response, he said. According to Lavrov, Blinken promised Russia a written response to Russia’s demand for “security guarantees” by next week.
After the meeting at the President Wilson luxury hotel on Lake Geneva, Lavrov spoke of an “open” exchange. Both sides agree on the need for a “reasonable dialogue”. He hopes that “tempers will now calm down,” said the Russian foreign minister. He agreed with Blinken “that written answers to our proposals will be presented to us by next week,” he said, referring to a far-reaching list of Russian demands on Washington and its allies.
Lavrov criticizes NATO for “anti-Russian hysteria”
At the press conference, Lavrov simultaneously criticized the West for its “machinery against Russia” and called for an end to the “anti-Russian hysteria” in the Ukraine conflict. Russia does not threaten anyone and does not invade any country, Lavrov said at a press conference in Geneva on Friday. He dismissed Western fears that an invasion of Ukraine was imminent. “The whole thing is now degenerating. We are being told that the troop deployment is too extreme,” Lavrov said.
He also criticized the eastward expansion of NATO. “It is a plan that was clearly aimed against the Russian Federation.” Russia warned the West that this was a mistake “because it makes NATO vulnerable.” Russia had been assured of peaceful neighbors, “allies close by”. That is not the case. Russia is now forced to pursue a dead-end policy, says Lavrov. And: “At the moment we can see very clearly that NATO regards Ukraine as its sphere of influence.”
Russia demands end of eastward enlargement
Immediately before the meeting, the Russian government had reiterated its demands on the West: NATO must withdraw its foreign soldiers and “equipment and weapons” from all countries that were not part of the defense alliance until 1997, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said. The ministry also explicitly named the EU and NATO members Romania and Bulgaria. The Romanian government dismissed the demands as “unacceptable”.
Moscow is also demanding a written renunciation of further eastward expansion from NATO. The defense alliance rejects this. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this week, however, that NATO was ready “to sit down with Russia in the coming days and weeks and then put concrete written proposals on the table with the aim of achieving a constructive result”.
Because of the massive Russian troop deployment on the border with Ukraine, the West fears that Russia is preparing to invade the neighboring country. The US intelligence services recently warned that an invasion could be preceded by a “false flag” Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Lavrov said on Friday that Russia had “never threatened” the Ukrainian people.
Pro-Russian separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian army in eastern Ukraine since 2014. The West accuses Moscow of providing military support to the separatists, which the Kremlin denies. More than 13,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
No relaxation of the situation in sight
The Ukrainian military intelligence service said on Friday that Russia had recently increased its arms deliveries to the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk. Moscow supplies the separatists with tanks, artillery systems, ammunition and fuel, among other things. Meanwhile, MPs in the Russian parliament have presented a bill recognizing the independence of the “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk. This would serve the “security of our citizens and compatriots,” said the chairman of the lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin, on Friday.
As the defense minister announced in Moscow on Friday, Russia is also relocating its S-400 air defense system for maneuvers in neighboring Belarus. Two divisions were loaded onto railway wagons in the far east of the country and are to be taken from the Khabarovsk region to Belarus, where military exercises by Russia and Belarus will begin in just over three weeks. The maneuver has raised concerns in the West.
The maneuvers are also to be held in the south of the ex-Soviet republic to Ukraine and in the west at the EU’s external border. Ten days are scheduled for this. It is a regular exercise. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the total number of soldiers does not exceed the maximum number stipulated in the Vienna Document. This means that there will be fewer than 13,000 soldiers, 300 tanks, 500 armored vehicles and 3,500 paratroopers.
Source From: Stern
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