US Ambassador John Sullivan arrived at the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday evening, January 26. The ambassador’s car drove up to the building of the department at about 19:30 Moscow time.
Earlier in the day, CNN reported that the White House could send a written response to Russia’s security guarantee proposals as early as Wednesday. According to journalists, the response will contain “slightly more detailed” details than the United States has publicly announced.
On the same day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that if Washington asks not to publish the answer, Moscow will fulfill the request, but will convey its essence to the public. Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Grushko, in turn, said that Russia received from the United States some answers to its questions on proposals for security guarantees, but so far only verbally.
On January 21, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov announced that “serious political decisions” would be made if the response on security guarantees from the United States and NATO was disappointing.
At the same time, on January 24, the State Department announced that the White House was not going to make concessions to Russia on security issues, as it was waiting for a response.
Negotiations on security guarantees were held in three stages in January. The first round of talks on this topic took place in Geneva on 10 January. It was followed by a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels, followed by consultations on January 13 at the Vienna site of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
At the end of 2021, Russia published drafts of a treaty with the United States and an agreement with NATO on security guarantees, demanding from Western partners legal guarantees of refusing further NATO expansion to the east, joining the Ukraine bloc and establishing military bases in post-Soviet countries. Also, Russia and NATO must pledge not to create conditions that can be regarded as a threat by the other side.
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.
