US and NATO Respond to Russian Demands Over Ukraine
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Friday, January 28, 2022
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced that Russia expects ‘large-scale results’ if it chooses the ‘path of aggression’ against Ukraine. At the same time, he called on Moscow to engage in diplomacy and end the crisis over the mobilization of troops along Ukraine's borders.
On January 27, he said that the United States did not yet know what the Kremlin planned to do with Ukraine and the demands for a re-enactment of existing European security structures.
Previous day Blinken said in his speech that the United States had officially given Russia a written response to the so-called Moscow ultimatum on security guarantees.
The United States and NATO delivered separate written responses to Russia’s security demands to reach a diplomatic solution to the crisis over Ukraine continue.
The US ambassador to Russia delivered Washington’s reply to Moscow, which is seeking security guarantees that NATO will halt its eastward expansion into former Soviet republics. According to Blinken, the letter offers Russia a ‘serious diplomatic path’ to end the impasse.
“The document we’ve delivered includes concerns of the US and our allies and partners about Russia’s actions that undermine security, a principled and pragmatic evaluation of the concerns that Russia has raised, and our own proposals for areas where we may be able to find common ground,” Blinken said, stressring that stressed that Washington and its allies would not agree to curb the NATO admissions process for new members.
“The military alliance’s door remains open,” he added.
“We have an obligation to test that proposition, to pursue the diplomatic path, to leave no diplomatic stone unturned, because for sure it's far preferable to resolve these differences peacefully consistent with our principles than it would be to have renewed aggression, renewed conflict, and everything that will follow from that. But the point is we're prepared either way,” Blinken said.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance delivered its own written response to Russia ‘in parallel with the United States’.
“We call on Russia once again to immediately de-escalate the situation. NATO firmly believes that tensions and disagreements must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy,” Stoltenberg said.
He called for re-establishing formal ties between Russia and NATO, and opening channels of communication to avoid escalation. The US and NATO have held a series of talks with Russian officials over the past few weeks, but the negotiations so far have failed to end the crisis.
“We see more troops not only in and around Ukraine, but also now in Belarus where Russia is in the process of deploying thousands of troops, hundreds of aircraft, S-400 air defence systems and a lot of other very advanced capabilities,” he said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Russia will ‘study’ the NATO proposal. “We will read it. Study it. The partners studied our project for almost a month and a half,” he commented.
Moscow demanded in December that Washington and NATO guarantee that the North Atlantic Alliance would not expand eastward and would never include Ukraine and Georgia. Against the backdrop of this Russian demand, he gathered more than 100,000 soldiers and a large amount of military equipment near the borders of Ukraine. The West fears that Russia is preparing to intervene in Ukraine. Moscow says it has no plans to do so.
