Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the United States had promised to provide written responses to Russia’s proposals on security guarantees in Europe by January 30. The minister announced this after the end of negotiations with the head of the US State Department, Anthony Blinken, in Geneva.
“We had an intermediate meeting, Anthony Blinken told me that he was satisfied with the exchange of views that had taken place, which would help them next week, it was already emphasized several times, to provide us with a written reaction,” Mr. Lavrov said at a press conference.
Asked whether US responses to Russia’s proposals could be made public, the minister said: “This is a question that will need to be asked to American colleagues. I thought about it today, but as long as there is no answer, we will not raise this topic, since this is their property, which will be transferred to us as their position. I believe that it would be right to make this answer public, and I will ask Anthony Blinken that they do not object.
According to Mr. Lavrov, during the meeting, the Russian side heard the American colleagues repeat the arguments about the freedom of elections of the union in the context of NATO expansion. “But we have cited a number of documents in which this freedom of choice of alliances is conditioned by the need to avoid any steps that will strengthen the security of one state at the expense of the security of other states,” he said.
Speaking about the documents that the American side had prepared for the meeting regarding Russian “disinformation”, Mr. Lavrov said that they were “impossible to read.” As the minister noted, it is enough to randomly open any page of the document to understand that it does not withstand any criticism.
The meeting on January 21 in Geneva was the second between the delegations of the Russian Federation and the United States regarding security guarantees in Europe. The first one took place there on January 10. In December, Russia presented the United States with a vision of security in Europe (rejection of NATO expansion) and is now waiting for a written response from the American side to its proposals. Following the submission of these responses to the State Department, the US hopes to discuss the security architecture in Europe in new meetings with Russian diplomats.