Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov on Saturday, January 15, in an interview with Newsweek magazine said that all the efforts of the North Atlantic Alliance aimed at the military development of the former republics of the USSR are not acceptable to Russia.
“NATO’s efforts aimed at the military development of the former Soviet republics are unacceptable for us. This is fraught with the deployment of missile systems and other destabilizing weapons systems that directly threaten our country,” the diplomat said.
According to him, as a result of such actions of the alliance, the risks of escalation and direct military clashes in the region and beyond will increase manifold. In fact, Antonov stressed, the world is “on the brink of an abyss.”
The Russian ambassador pointed out that “to prevent such a development of the situation” Moscow prepared draft agreements with the US and NATO on security guarantees. And it was they that were discussed during negotiations with the United States, as well as at the platforms of the Russia-NATO Council and the OSCE.
“Their goal is to put on paper legally binding guarantees that the alliance will refrain from any further expansion to the east, as well as the deployment of strike weapons in the immediate vicinity of our borders,” he explained.
Antonov drew attention to the fact that the “principle of equal and indivisible security” should be applied not only to NATO countries: in principle, no state should have the right to strengthen its security at the expense of others.
In conclusion, the head of the Russian diplomatic mission added that Moscow expects written responses from Washington and Brussels to the draft Russian agreements and, based on them, will decide on the advisability of further joint work. In addition, Russia is also ready to discuss counter proposals.
The day before, on January 14, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a telephone conversation expressed the readiness of the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance to conduct new negotiations with Russia.
On the same day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Ukraine’s entry into NATO, as well as the appearance of military facilities and bases of Western countries in the Sea of Azov, would not suit Moscow and were red lines. The minister noted that Moscow does not accept the emergence of an alliance on the borders with the Russian Federation, especially given the current political course of Ukraine. Lavrov also pointed out that there are reasons to believe that NATO in the coming months may begin to build up forces near Russia under the pretext of the situation in Ukraine. At the same time, the minister noted that the Russian Federation had never threatened the Ukrainian people.
According to the head of the Russian ministry, in the plans of the US and NATO there is a desire to “wind up” the process of security guarantees. He stressed that the situation is not improving, the conflict potential is accumulating. According to Lavrov, “such a negative development of events” is decisively promoted by the West.