The “key question”: why Russia intends to continue to seek security guarantees from the US and NATO

Moscow will continue to insist on providing security guarantees for Russia from Washington and NATO, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko.

“For us, if we talk about the long-term security interests of Russia, of course, the issue of guarantees will remain key for the foreseeable, for the boundless future,” Grushko said on the air of the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

The representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that it was the wording on the action plan for Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO in the decision of the Bucharest summit that led "to the current crisis in European security that we are witnessing."

“This Bucharest formula, which they have now raised almost to the rank of cast concrete, in fact, we know very well, it was written on the knee as a result of a compromise, since at that time France and Germany spoke out strongly against granting Georgia and Ukraine of the action plan for membership, and then this compromise wording was invented, which they are now holding on to, ”Grushko explained.

The Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation also announced the use of Ukraine by the United States "as a frontier in the fight against Russia."

He noted that the Russian Federation will continue to insist on "material legal guarantees of non-expansion of the alliance to the east."

In addition, Grushko assessed the risks of a hypothetical clash between Russia and NATO, noting that they, "of course, arise."

He stressed that Moscow is extremely concerned about the supply of weapons to Ukraine from Western countries.

Recall that on March 2, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said during a briefing that 19 states are supplying weapons to Ukraine, and that more than a thousand mercenaries from 16 countries are sent to Ukrainian territories.

Earlier, the European Commission announced that the EU for the first time in history will finance the purchase and supply of weapons and equipment for Ukraine, for which it will use €500 million.

“Everything in this situation is very dangerous.

There are no guarantees that there will be no incidents, there are no guarantees that these incidents can escalate in a completely unnecessary direction," Grushko said.

The Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation also noted that if the issue of providing guarantees to Russia from the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance "is resolved, then it will be possible to think about some new architecture of relations" both with NATO and with other organizations that exist in this region. .

• Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Grushko

• RIA News

• © Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

“We proceed from the fact that when the crisis (of European security.

) is overcome, and it is overcome in such a way that the national interests of the Russian Federation are ensured, then, perhaps, it will be possible to start building some kind of new architecture, which, perhaps it will no longer rely on the old institutions.

But such an objective need, it exists.

Interdependence has not gone anywhere, the world has become very small, it is overpopulated, and there are a lot of challenges and threats that demand, really demand, cry out for joint actions, ”Grushko emphasized.

The representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry also added that "political and diplomatic tools" should "be in demand in any case."

At the same time, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman called "ridiculous" Russia's demand to return NATO to the state of 1997.

According to her, Washington could not guarantee Ukraine's non-entry into the bloc, as well as the withdrawal of a number of member countries from the North Atlantic Alliance.

Sherman also noted that the United States, in response to Russian concerns, "offered things that were in their interest."

In turn, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced Washington's readiness to negotiate with Moscow if the Russian Federation withdraws troops in Ukraine.

He also noted that the American side will support any diplomatic efforts on the part of Kyiv to achieve a truce and withdraw Russian forces.

Security Guarantees

Recall that on December 17, 2021, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs published the draft treaty with the United States and the agreement with NATO.

These documents speak, in particular, of mutual security guarantees in Europe and the refusal to further expand the North Atlantic Alliance, including at the expense of the former republics of the USSR, including Ukraine.

After these initiatives were discussed in January 2022 during a series of talks between Moscow and Washington in Geneva, as well as with NATO in Brussels and within the OSCE, the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance handed over their written responses to the proposals of the Russian Federation.

However, as Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed on February 1, "fundamental Russian concerns have been ignored."

In turn, the press secretary of the Russian leader, Dmitry Peskov, said that Moscow had not received "direct answers" from the United States and NATO to its initiatives.

He stressed that Russia will not allow the West to transfer the dialogue on this topic into the regime of multi-year negotiations, "which will be conducted in parallel with the concrete actions of the NATO countries and the United States to arm Ukraine",

After that, on February 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry published Moscow's reaction to Washington's response on security guarantees, which stated that the United States did not give a constructive response to Russia's key proposals, including the rejection of NATO expansion and the creation of bases on the territory of former Soviet republics, the withdrawal of the Bucharest formula about the forthcoming entry into the bloc of Ukraine and Georgia, as well as the return of military potentials, including shock, and the infrastructure of the organization to the state of 1997.

The Foreign Ministry then stressed that such an approach, “like the accompanying rhetoric of American officials, reinforces reasonable doubts that Washington is really committed to correcting the situation in the field of European security.”

“In the absence of the readiness of the American side to agree on firm, legally binding guarantees to ensure our security from the United States and its allies, Russia will be forced to respond, including through the implementation of measures of a military-technical nature,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

After the aggravation of the situation in the Donbass due to the provocations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russia decided first to recognize the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, and then on a special operation in Ukraine to demilitarize and denazify.

Moscow emphasized that this was a forced measure designed to help the DPR and LPR repel aggression from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“The balance of power has been grossly upset”

As Konstantin Blokhin, a researcher at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted in a commentary on RT, when Russia “for a long time and repeatedly” called on the United States and NATO to think again and take care of the European security system, to accept Russia’s proposals published by the Russian Foreign Ministry on December 17 last year, the West “simply didn’t give a damn » to Russian anxieties and fears.

“Moscow has demonstrated its determination towards its opponents.

And now the West is in a state of shock, it is shocked by the effectiveness of the Russian army, by the fact that it has already lost many positions, ”the expert said.

According to Blokhin, the West wanted to fully involve Ukraine in the wake of its foreign policy, cooperating with it in many areas and creating NATO infrastructure.

• Canadian military at NATO exercises in Latvia

• AP

• © Roman Koksarov

“For the alliance, this is a clear signal that under no circumstances will there be any further expansion of the bloc, otherwise Russia may use other tools,” the analyst emphasized.

According to Blokhin, despite the fact that the special operation in Ukraine has not yet ended, “now any next candidate for membership in the bloc will think a hundred times whether he should enter there and what the reaction of the Russian Federation might be.”

"Moreover, many other post-Soviet countries will already be more wary of NATO's initiatives to expand the alliance at the expense of the countries of the former USSR," the expert said.

At the same time, Blokhin believes that while the West is "not ripe" for a dialogue with Russia regarding the European security system.

“So far, many Western countries are in a state of rage, hopelessness.

They think what else to do disgusting Russia.

While they are not ready to make any compromises.

In addition, the special operation in Ukraine has not yet ended.

But the United States and NATO have finally realized that the Russian Federation has red lines that cannot be crossed, ”said Blokhin.

As noted, in turn, by the deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics of the Moscow State Pedagogical University, Vladimir Shapovalov, in an interview with RT, Russia intends to continue to defend its right to provide legally secured security guarantees from Washington and the alliance, since for the Russian Federation this is a matter of "life and death".

“NATO expansion poses an extreme danger to Russia, as the alliance is moving closer and closer to the borders of the Russian Federation, constantly taking aggressive actions against the Russian side, and pursuing a hypocritical policy.

On the one hand, they declare that they will not participate in hostilities in Ukraine, on the other hand, they send weapons to this country in large quantities.

All this provokes Kyiv to take active steps against the Russian Federation.

In addition, Russia appears as an adversary in the strategic documents of the United States and NATO, ”the analyst said.

Shapovalov also recalled that it was the United States and the bloc that actually destroyed the security system in Europe, since the US actions to expand NATO "grossly upset the balance of power."

In this situation, Russia needs firm, formally established guarantees, the expert stressed.

At the same time, he predicted that "sooner or later", but Washington and the alliance "will have to sit down at the negotiating table" with Russia regarding this issue.

“The West will have to come to terms with the situation of the need for a new agreement with Russia on security in Europe, since the Russian Federation takes a very firm position in this regard.

And it is no longer possible to ignore the opinion of Moscow now, ”concluded the analyst.