NATO offers Russia a dialogue, now it’s up to Russia, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkevich wrote on Twitter.
At the end of 2021, Russia published drafts of a treaty with the United States and an agreement with NATO on security assurances. Moscow, in particular, demands from its Western partners legal guarantees of refusing further eastward expansion of NATO, joining the Ukrainian bloc, and establishing military bases in post-Soviet countries. The proposals also contain a clause on the non-deployment of NATO strike weapons near the borders of Russia and the withdrawal of alliance forces in Eastern Europe to the positions of 1997. The United States and NATO on Wednesday handed over to Russia responses to proposals for security guarantees.
“Instead of ultimatums, NATO offers Russia dialogue and measures to de-escalate, build confidence and transparency. We firmly adhere to the key principles – open doors and collective defense. Now it’s up to Russia to choose the path – peace or aggression with all the consequences,” Rinkevich wrote.
Russia has repeatedly rejected accusations by the West and Ukraine of “aggressive actions”, stating that it does not threaten anyone and is not going to attack anyone, and statements about “Russian aggression” are used as an excuse to place more NATO military equipment near Russian borders. At the same time, Kiev and Western states have recently expressed concern about the alleged increase in “aggressive actions” by Russia near the borders of Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is moving troops within its territory and at its own discretion. According to him, it does not threaten anyone and should not worry anyone.
As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier, Russia does not create any pretexts for a conflict situation around Ukraine. According to him, Russia does not exclude that the hysteria around Ukraine, hyped by the West, is aimed at covering Kiev’s line of sabotaging the Minsk agreements on Donbass. The Kremlin noted that the information hysteria of the US and NATO on Ukraine is generously framed by lies and fakes.