The distance at the meetings of Russian President Vladimir Putin with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was caused by precautionary measures against the background of the pandemic, Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the head of state, told reporters on Monday, February 14.
“This is due to covid restrictions and precautions. In no way does this distance interfere with work. There were full-fledged discussions and reports to the head of state,” Peskov said.
On Monday, Putin held working meetings with the two ministers in the Kremlin. Lavrov and Shoigu sat at a long table five or six seats away from the president.
At a meeting with Shoigu, the course of military exercises in Russia and Belarus was discussed. In addition, the head of the Ministry of Defense reported on the incident with the discovered American submarine near the Kuriles. According to him, the submarine invaded the territorial waters of Russia to a depth of 4 km, for its expulsion, the Russian side had to apply three special actions.
The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry presented Putin with a 10-page document in which he outlined his position on the US and NATO responses to Russia’s proposals on security guarantees. Lavrov noted that in some aspects Washington’s position coincides with Moscow’s proposals, but in general the reaction remains negative.
Negotiations on security guarantees were held in three stages in January. On January 10, a meeting of the Russian and US delegations took place in Geneva. On January 12, a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council was held in Brussels, and on January 13, consultations ended at the Vienna site of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
On January 26, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Russia had received a written response to proposals for security guarantees. According to him, the alliance proposed to restore the diplomatic missions of the parties and the line of communication.
In parallel, United States Ambassador John Sullivan handed over to Moscow a written response from Washington.
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.
