The US and NATO are ready to hold a new meeting with Russia and are “committed to continuing diplomacy and mutual dialogue.” This was announced on Friday, January 14, by the head of the press service of the State Department, Ned Price, following a telephone conversation between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
The head of the American foreign policy department and the head of the alliance discussed “further steps” after the January 12 meeting of the NATO-Russia Council.
“The United States and its NATO allies stand united on the diplomatic path forward and call on Russia to take immediate action to de-escalate its ongoing aggression against Ukraine,” Ned Price said after the call.
“Diplomatic Marathon”
On January 12, Brussels hosted the first meeting of the NATO-Russia Council since 2019. The negotiations were attended by representatives of 30 countries of the North Atlantic Alliance and Secretary General of the organization Jens Stoltenberg. The Russian delegation was led by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko, and the United States was represented, in particular, by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. The parties failed to make any appreciable progress. The US and its NATO allies have said that NATO’s doors will continue to be open to new members, and Russia cannot have a veto on this issue.
On January 13, a meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was held in Vienna, during which its current chairman, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, warned of the threat of war in Europe.
Prior to that, on January 10, Sherman held talks with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in Geneva. These meetings were also devoted to the crisis around Ukraine and Moscow’s demands for “security guarantees” for Russia from the United States and NATO.
Crisis over Ukraine and Russia’s demands
In November 2021, there were reports that Russia had deployed about 100,000 troops to the annexed Crimea and to the border with Ukraine. Kiev and Western leaders fear that Moscow is preparing for a new invasion of Ukraine.
Russia denies such intentions and, in turn, accuses Western countries of arming Ukraine and conducting maneuvers near the borders of the Russian Federation. Moscow demands “security guarantees”, including NATO’s refusal to expand eastward and admit Ukraine into its structure, to conduct military activities in the countries of Eastern Europe, Transcaucasia and Central Asia, and also to refuse to deploy medium and short-range missiles on positions from which they can hit the territory of other parties to the agreement.
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