Sergei Ryabkov: The West must abandon NATO expansion

NATO can no longer “push” Russia into secondary roles in European and international politics and must return to the 1997 level, said Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister and special negotiator in the US-Russia talks in Geneva. level in Geneva today and will be officially held tomorrow.

“Even a non-expert understands that demanding concessions from Russia, especially at a time when NATO has been seeking for all of the last decades, to ‘push’ our country and transfer it, if not into a subordinate role. , then in definitely minor roles in the European and international political scene, and in fact to do so directly affecting our security, will no longer be possible.All this is a thing of the past. “The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister told the Russian state news agency TASS.

“NATO must therefore ‘pack up’ and return to the 1997 borders,” Ryabkov added, recalling that in May 1997 Russia and NATO signed the Framework Act, which reaffirmed that “they do not treat each other as “set up a mechanism for consultation, coordination and joint action”, but in the meantime Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic joined the North Atlantic Alliance in 1999, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia in 2004. Slovenia and Estonia, in 2009 Albania and Croatia, in 2017 Montenegro and in 2020 Northern Macedonia.

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said that it would be naive to expect progress in the security guarantees requested by Moscow in the forthcoming Russia-US talks, “judging by the public position of the Western partners”, while Russia considers that ” “The West must, on a unilateral basis, abandon NATO expansion and eliminate the military infrastructure that has been created.” “Western countries say they have never promised not to expand. And we say that was essentially an integral part of the political package, which was discussed at the stage of German reunification, the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from “The countries of the former – from a military point of view – Warsaw Pact,” said the Russian high-ranking diplomat.

“So the promises, the political guarantees, some words mean nothing. It has just been said that the US has no intention of developing offensive weapons in Ukraine. Not today, but what will happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow? Are the US ready to put it in paper and validate it? ” wondered the Russian Undersecretary.

According to Ryabkov, Russia’s western partners must get rid of the illusions of a monopoly world or that they have the ability to impose on Russia terms that it considered remnants of the Cold War era thinking, adding: “I understand that it is difficult for colleagues in the US with their certainty in their eternal right to let go of illusions.This is always a certain political and psychological trauma.Therefore the emotional outbursts, all sorts of exaggerations, threats, ultimatums, generally this hysterical “But they will have to get used to the new situation, adjust and put it a little bit backwards, among other things, literally. Otherwise their own safety will be affected.”

According to the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, the Western allegations that Russia could create an incident, use military force against Ukraine, “is a great provocation and the statement is intended for ignorant, for people who blindly believe in American propaganda”, while the recent crisis in Kazakhstan is not a topic of discussion in the Russian-American consultations in Geneva.

SOURCE: AMPE