Status: 10.01.2022 10:53 p.m.
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An offer for disarmament talks, but a no to the end of NATO’s eastward expansion: the meeting between the USA and Russia came to an end in Geneva. The Americans once again made their position clear on the Kremlin’s demands.
The meeting between the USA and Russia on the Ukraine crisis ended after almost eight hours in Geneva. US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said in a phone call with journalists that the talks were “open and direct”. But there were no concrete negotiations – the exploratory talks have not yet reached that point. Both sides had raised their security concerns.
It threatened Russia again with massive consequences in the event of a military escalation in the Ukraine crisis. Sherman called on the Kremlin to de-escalate. The US side made it clear that it was ready for talks on conflict issues such as the limitation of maneuvers or the stationing of missiles. Such talks could take place, for example, within the framework of the Russia-NATO Council, which will meet in Brussels on Wednesday.
“However, we have strongly opposed security proposals that are simply out of the question for the United States.” Sherman rejected calls by Russia for guarantees for an end to NATO’s eastward expansion. The US negotiator said no one would be allowed to stop NATO’s open door policy. In addition, the USA would not make a decision on Ukraine, Europe or NATO without first clarifying this with those affected.
USA-Russia talks on the complex situation in the Ukraine conflict
Volker Schwenck, currently ARD Geneva, daily review 8:00 p.m., 10.1.2022
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Moscow stands by its demands
The USA and the western defense alliance NATO are calling for Russian troops to be withdrawn from the border with Ukraine. The Russian leadership, on the other hand, feels threatened by the presence of US troops and weapons in Europe and insists on binding agreements with NATO and the USA – albeit to the exclusion of the EU and Ukraine.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov described the meeting as professional. “The conversation was difficult, but very profound and concrete,” he said later. The US side had been assured that Russia was not planning an attack on Ukraine. Moscow had also made it clear that progress had to be made with regard to essential demands.
These included an end to NATO’s expansion to the east and the Alliance’s renouncement of stationing offensive weapons near the Russian borders. Russia will not abandon these demands. But with a view to the end of NATO’s eastward expansion, Geneva had not made any progress, said Ryabkov. “No, we have not succeeded in making any improvement,” said the diplomat. Further steps and perspectives could only be decided in the next few days.
Clear announcements by blinkers in advance
The talks are part of the “strategic security dialogue” announced by US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the summer. After an informal working lunch on Sunday, Ryabkov had predicted difficult negotiations and spoke of a “complicated discussion”.
Russia wants assurances that NATO will not expand further east and a withdrawal of US nuclear weapons from Europe. The West is worried that the Russian government is preparing a new invasion of the neighboring country after the annexation of Crimea – according to western estimates, Russia has gathered around 100,000 soldiers on the border with Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently said that, from Washington’s perspective, neither a withdrawal of US troops from Eastern Europe nor a promise not to expand NATO were under negotiation. US officials have shown it as possible that the future stationing of certain missiles in Ukraine could be reduced. In addition, US and NATO military exercises in Eastern Europe could be limited. For this, however, Russia would have to give up Ukraine, demand US representatives.
Ischinger: “I’m confident”
The head of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, assessed the meeting as the beginning of a diplomatic process. The words of the Russian delegation did not sound bad, he said in the daily topics. “I understand from all of this that one is interested in continuing to talk.” Nevertheless, the Russian side has put maximum demands on the table.
Ischinger doesn’t believe that Russia is really planning an invasion of Ukraine. Such an undertaking would be beyond the country’s economic capabilities. He called for further talks to follow after the start in Geneva – especially about arms controls. “I’m more confident than I was a week ago,” said Ischinger.
The meeting of the Deputy Foreign Ministers of Russia and the USA ushered in a week of intensive discussions on the situation in Ukraine. A meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in Brussels is planned for Wednesday and a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna on Thursday.
After Russian-American talks in Geneva
Kathrin Hondl, ARD Geneva, 10.1.2022, 9:20 p.m.
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DrBeyer
January 11, 2022 • 12:07 am
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@a comment.
I have a link for you in which it is actually described quite well: “https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ost-erweiterung-der-nato-was-verspr…”. In an early phase of the reunification process, the Tutzinger formula was, so to speak, a working hypothesis from which all those involved later moved away.
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