The Russian president, however, reiterated its demands to ban any future enlargement of the Atlantic Alliance, during his annual press conference, demanding “guarantees now, not in ten years.”
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After increasingly vehement speeches in recent days, the good report given by Russian President Vladimir Putin certainly brief and measured, is a real change in tone. “For now we see a positive reaction. Our American partners say they are ready to start this discussion, these negotiations from the beginning of the year in Geneva,” Putin said during his conference annual Press, Thursday, December 23.
The Russian president was referring to the announcement on the eve of forthcoming discussions between Washington and Moscow on the basis of proposals from the Russian side there is a week that seek to prohibit any further enlargement of the NATO and reform the European order of the post-cold war. The implicit threat posed Moscow in support of its demands is another military intervention in Ukraine, on the border which Russian troops are massed. Or “military-technical response” as formulated Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov had given some details about the scope of these discussions. These should begin “in January,” under the leadership of Yuri Ushakov, advisor of the Russian President, and Jake Sullivan, advisor to the national security of the United States. Those negotiations “should not be eternal,” warned Lavrov, without specifying if he was talking weeks or months. He did not rule out “contacts” parallel with Europeans, either directly or as part of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
“This is not we who threaten someone, “said Putin
On Thursday, the US side confirmed that first telephone conversation took place between Mr. Sullivan and Ushakov. To note, the Russian side that the vice-foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, is temporarily left to the side. It was he who introduced Russian requirements, in the form of draft agreements with the US and NATO, warning that it was “not a menu where you can choose what we like “, giving the maneuver ultimatum air.
Putin repeated the warning of his minister: “We want guarantees now, not in ten years.” In response to a question about the possibility of war, and eager to tell him if he could -even give guarantees about the security of Ukraine, he was content to ensure:
“Our actions do not depend on negotiations themselves but assurances that Russia will receive for its security. (…) It is not we who threaten someone. How the US would react if one put missiles on the Canadian border? “
In support of his argument, Putin again raised the supposed project of the United States to deploy hypersonic missiles in Ukraine to “cover” shares “Ukrainian radicals” against Russian forces. Such missiles are deployed or in Ukraine, or even in the Baltic states, NATO members.
Throughout the week, the sound of boots have continued to be heard in Moscow, not only in the media but also among officials. On Tuesday, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, assured that “mercenaries” Americans were preparing “provocations” in the Donbass, including using chemical weapons, or installed “firing positions” in buildings of dwelling. Moscow, for its part, denies ever intervene militarily in the region.
During his press conference, Putin has also delivered several lengthy to explain the origin of the current crisis, going back in his broken promises of the 1990s – “They lie all the time “Putin said, speaking Westerners – and the” coup “in Ukraine in 2014.” We could not refuse our protection to the inhabitants of the Crimea and Donbas “According to him, the fundamental problem of the West. remains that “Russia is still too much for them, (…) they have always wanted to burst.”