The United States is taking Russia’s proposals on security guarantees “very seriously”. the Russian negotiator reported Monday at the Geneva dialogue, adding that his country “has no intention of attacking Ukraine.”
After a meeting of several hours with his American counterpart, the Russian undersecretary of Foreign Relations, Sergei Riabkov urged Washington not to “underestimate” the risks of a confrontation.
“We explained to colleagues that we have no plans or intention to attack, in quotation marks, Ukraine”said Sergei Riabkov, deputy foreign minister.
He assured that there is no reason “to fear an escalation of the situation in that plan.”
With background from negotiations with her American counterpart, Wendy Sherman, He welcomed the United States taking seriously Russian requests for its security, first of all the legal guarantees that NATO will not be expanded, especially to the ex-Soviet pro-western countries, mainly Ukraine and Georgia.
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“We have the impression that the US side took the Russian proposals very seriously,” he said, after “difficult, long, professional” negotiations.
According to him, “the situation is not hopeless” when for a few weeks the situation had not stopped getting worse, in particular by the deployment of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers on the borders of Ukraine.
But, he considered, “the risks related to the worsening of the evolution of the confrontation should not be underestimated.”
“We ask the United States to demonstrate maximum responsibility”, Riabkov warned.
“Progress is required, a real gesture needs to be made towards Russia and that must come from NATO,” he stressed.
He added that “never but never” Ukraine should join the Atlantic Alliance.
For Riabkov, concessions to Russia must be made “quickly” and reiterated that the negotiation process should not take “months or years.”
AFP
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