“Our patience has come to an end” – Mir – Kommersant

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during a three-hour press conference, summed up the foreign policy results of 2021 and spoke about plans for the coming months. Most of the questions concerned Russia’s demand addressed to the US to provide it with guarantees of non-expansion of NATO. Sergei Lavrov explained why Moscow has put forward its demands right now, where its red lines are, and what it expects from Washington in the near future. Kommersant has collected key quotes from Mr. Lavrov.

About why Russia right now demanded guarantees from the US and NATO

“Accumulated. It accumulated over the period after the 1990s, when the promises made about non-expansion of NATO, non-promotion of military infrastructure to the east and non-deployment of significant combat forces on the territory of new members were rudely thrown into the basket by our Western friends. Our patience has run out. We are very patient. But do you know that we harness for a long time? Here we harnessed for a very long time, it’s time for us to go. Here we are waiting for the coachman on that wagon to respond specifically to our proposals.

On expectations from US and NATO proposals

“We will wait for proposals (USA and NATO.— “b”). They promise to give them to us within a week, literally, plus or minus. And we warned them, our partners, primarily American ones, that this (the proposals submitted by Russia in December.— “b”) is not a menu, it’s a package. Exactly the same package that we talked about today on the choice of alliances. This element cannot be pulled out of the general formula approved at the highest level regarding the indivisibility of security and the inadmissibility of strengthening one’s security at the expense of others. They must understand that the key to everything is guarantees of NATO’s non-expansion to the east. Everything else will fit into the general agreement.”

“Much of what is being said publicly today is probably connected with the artificial escalation of tension, with the desire to create such an atmosphere around the Russian Federation, including as an additional background for the negotiations that began in Geneva, continued in Brussels and which, I hope we can resume. But that will depend on the response of the United States, a concrete, written response to our proposals.”

“We know that the West is counting on a scenario that will allow the Americans to relieve themselves of the main responsibility for resolving these issues in negotiations with us. And first, in the Russia-NATO Council, try to dissolve all this by attracting our associates, while in the OSCE, in principle, it is impossible to conduct any negotiations.”

“We have submitted documents and insist that our main concern about the non-expansion of NATO be legally binding. In response, I hope to get something intelligible, in addition to the arguments that are now going on that this is not suitable for the West. Let’s see what they give us on paper, and then we will decide how sincere our Western colleagues are, not in the 90s, but even now, in relations with the Russian Federation.”

About red lines

“We categorically do not accept the appearance of the North Atlantic Alliance right on our borders, especially considering the course pursued by the Ukrainian leadership, both the former and the current one. Moreover, it is a red line for real.”

“Even if Ukraine remains outside NATO, there are possible bilateral agreements with the Americans, the British, and other Western countries that create military facilities and bases on the Sea of ​​Azov there. This is also unacceptable for us, because the deployment of strike weapons on the territory of our neighbors, in this case Ukraine, which will pose a threat to the Russian Federation, is another red line.”

“There are several hundred American and British military in Ukraine, the participation of Western instructors in the conflict in Donbass will cross all red lines and mean a direct clash between Russian people and NATO military.”

About NATO

“The Americans nod at NATO, saying that they would be happy to discuss with us what is most important for us, but they say: “We still have NATO, our allies are there.” I think this is not a very fair presentation of the situation. They say that they cannot decide without allies, but NATO is needed by Washington, by and large, only as an instrument of self-assertion as the leader of the West, only in order to keep them all in line with its policy and plans.”

About Sweden and Finland

“Russia fully respects the sovereignty of both Finland and Sweden. We believe that the policy of neutrality of these countries is one of the most important contributions to the common European architecture and to ensuring stability on the European continent. Those who do not respect the sovereignty of Finland and Sweden are those who, by hook or by crook, want to provoke their accession to NATO, and the awakening of this issue began long ago, far from now. Decide (whether to join NATO.— “b”), of course, to the Finnish people, the Swedish people. We discuss these topics with our neighbors whenever we hold talks on international issues. And we see that the leadership of Finland and Sweden understand all aspects of this issue.”

On relations with the European Union

“We really want the European Union to play an independent role. We really want to have normal relations with the European Union, we have not destroyed them. Let the European Union decide for itself how ready it is to recreate them. It will not be up to us if this is done on a mutually respectful basis, searching for a balance of interests.”

“We are interested in an independent European Union and are closely watching the ambiguous trends that are developing in this association. We see how the European Union fears that its interests may be ignored. They openly admit this after Afghanistan, and after the epic with the Australian submarines, and the creation of the so-called (security partnership in the Indo-Pacific region.— “b”) AUKUS. Signals from some EU members about the need to form strategic autonomy in security matters have become more active, but at the same time, there is a very tough lobby in the European Union that opposes any attempts to sort of separate itself from NATO in security matters and insists that NATO is the key to security in including the European Union.

On the upcoming visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to China

“We are preparing an official Russian-Chinese summit. President Putin, at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, will visit Beijing on February 4, the opening day of the Olympic Games. And on the same day, full-scale negotiations at the highest level will take place. The talks, as always in the course of communication between our leaders, will cover the entire spectrum of relations. A rich bilateral agenda, a unique architecture of bilateral ties – we have almost no one else like this. I mean the annual summits, the annual meetings of the heads of government and the annual meetings of the five commissions at the level of deputy prime ministers that prepare the meetings of the heads of government. And such a mechanism has proven its effectiveness — decisions are being prepared that are thought out in detail, feasible and really help to increase our interaction.”

Prepared by Elena Chernenko

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