Russia on Friday demanded that NATO withdraw promises made to Ukraine and Georgia that they will be admitted to the Atlantic Alliance, since this means the advance of this military bloc to the east, one of the red lines marked by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Necessary formally withdraw the decision from the 2008 NATO Bucharest summit stating that Ukraine and Georgia will become members “ of the Alliance, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
According to Russian diplomacy, This decision would respond to “the fundamental interests of European security”, since the promise given to Kiev and Tbilisi is “contrary to the commitment of the leaders of all OSCE participating States not to strengthen their security at the expense of the security of others”.
”We insist on establishing a specific period of time and, based on the principle of equal and indivisible security, long-term legal guarantees that exclude the future advance of NATO to the east and the emplacement of weapons that threaten us in the western limits of Russia, “said the ministry.
In his recent telematics summit with the president of the United States, Joe Biden, Putin declared that his red line is the deployment of Western attack systems in Ukraine and warned about the ever-increasing approach of NATO’s military infrastructure to Russia.
Therefore proposed a legally binding security guarantees, which, according to Foreign Affairs, will be presented for the next round of dialogue on strategic stability between Russia and the United States.
The Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergey Riabkov, said today that the next round is expected to take place next January.
Moscow also stressed that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), as an institution that represents all the countries of the Euro-Atlantic region, “Must not remain on the sidelines of the debates aimed at solving the problems of European security”.
Biden has said he hopes to announce a series of high-level meetings with its main allies in NATO and Russia to de-escalate the tension between the parties, but prepare in parallel serious penalties against this country in the event that it decides to invade Ukraine.
The US and Ukraine believe that Russia is preparing an incursion into Ukrainian territory that could take place in early 2022, and that is why it has deployed between 70,000 and 94,000 Russian soldiers on its border with the neighboring country., according to estimates by US and Kiev intelligence.
Russia has also required the NATO to move its military maneuvers away from Russian borders, that the minimum distance of approach between ships and military planes of both parties be agreed and the dialogue between the defense ministries of Russia, the United States and the Atlantic Alliance be resumed.
In addition, Russia called on the US to join the unilateral moratorium proposed by Moscow a long time ago on the emplacement of short and medium-range missiles in Europe, in addition to measures to verify compliance with the commitments assumed by both parties.
NATO rejected the Russian request
Hours later, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, rejected that Russia prevents Ukraine from being part of the organization, because that only depends on the sovereign will of Kiev to join or not in the Atlantic Alliance and its members to decide if they accept it.
Stoltenberg, who appeared before the press in Paris together with the French foreign ministers, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and Defense, Florence Parly, acknowledged that Ukraine is not currently a member of NATO, and therefore is not covered by the protection guarantees.
But he added that “it is a valued partner of NATO and all NATO allies ” support its territorial integrity and sovereignty, at a time when it is speculated that Russia may be preparing an attack with the concentration of troops on the border with Ukraine.
He indicated that the Atlantic Alliance already offers Kiev a “practical” and “political” support in the face of this threat and insisted that “each nation in Europe has the right to decide its destiny, and that includes Ukraine”, which is the only one that can decide whether to apply to join the organization.
With information from AFP
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Source-www.infobae.com