Russia has delivered written responses to the United States’ letter on Moscow’s sweeping demands for “security guarantees” in eastern Europe, The Washington Post reported Monday, citing an unnamed U.S. official.
Washington and NATO rejected Russia’s demand to block Ukraine from potential membership in the U.S.-led military alliance in their own written response last month.
“We can confirm we received a written follow-up from Russia,” the U.S. official was quoted as saying.
The official deferred to Moscow when asked about its contents, saying “it would be unproductive to negotiate in public, so we’ll leave it up to Russia if they want to discuss their response.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denied that it had responded to the U.S. letter.
The state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited a senior diplomatic source as saying that the letter was not about the U.S. response to Moscow’s security demands, but instead contained questions on NATO members’ understanding of the “indivisibility of security” principle. The source said that Russia is still working on its official response to the U.S. and NATO.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Secretary of State Antony Blinken expects to hear Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “initial reactions” to Washington’s response during Tuesday’s phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“His reaction, his response is the response that matters most to us,” Price said at a press briefing Monday.
Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron last week that he will “carefully study” Western responses and “decide on further actions.” The Russian president accused U.S. and NATO of turning down his demands, which, in addition to blocking Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO, include not deploying attack missiles near Russian borders and moving Western military infrastructure out of Eastern Europe.
Russia’s Embassy in Washington, meanwhile, issued a set of claims responding to a State Department tweet accusing Russia of threatening Ukraine with 100,000 troops on the border.
“[It] is Washington, not Moscow that generates tensions,” it said in a Facebook post early Tuesday.
“We are not going to back away and stand at attention, listening to the threats of U.S. sanctions,” the Embassy warned.
(c) The Moscow Times
“It is Washington, not Moscow that generates tensions,” it said in a Facebook post early Tuesday.
“We are not going to back away and stand at attention, listening to the threats of U.S. sanctions,” the Embassy warned.”
Some people have very short memories in the Kremlin. Let’s remind this idiot what their nazi leader said 2 months ago.
“Our recent warnings have been noticed and are having an effect. There’s a certain tension there,” Putin said. “We need that condition to remain for as long as possible, so they don’t get it in their heads to start some conflict we don’t need on our western borders.”
Putin’s responses are always from his point of view and not from the point of view of reality. He invades and claims he is liberating. Its divorced from reality.
Living non-putlerite journalists are of course an extremely rare and endangered species. One such example; Anton Orekh, stated in the Aljazeera article that :
“The Kremlin’s interest is not in a settlement, but in constant tension.”
That is of course spot on. Russia does not negotiate, it issues demands. The only response to the putinazis is their own doctrine of trickery, deception and issuing tough ultimatums that outline the consequences of a failure to comply.