The deputy foreign minister said the West had rejected Russia’s offers of security guarantees and non-expansion of NATO. Our state, he said, had “nowhere to retreat”.
Moscow has no grounds for a new round of talks with Washington on security guarantees in the near future. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said this in an interview with RTVI television channel, RBC reports.
According to Deputy Lavrov, the main reason for the failure was that the United States would not agree to Russian demands to return the alliance to the 1997 borders. The United States also refused to guarantee that it would not deploy its forces in close proximity to Russian territory.
Ryabkov stressed that the Western partners were in the mood to discuss only issues of secondary importance to the Russian Federation. The U.S. partners have little interest in discussing an important issue for Russia.
And when they tell us “yes, let’s keep discussing”, we, in turn, point out that while these very subjects are important and serious, they are secondary to the same non-expansion of NATO. This is, to some extent, a deadlock or a difference in approach,” the deputy minister said.
Sergey Ryabkov stressed that no progress in the negotiations is possible until the sides find common ground. According to the deputy foreign minister, “the Americans want to blow off steam from the Russian position, relieve pressure, remove tension, continue the same process of geopolitical, military development of more and more territories, moving further and further away from Moscow.”
Sergei Ryabkov had previously taken a similar position. In an interview with TASS he said that “NATO should pack its bags and head back to the borders of 1917”.
