Formula for de-escalation and package approach: Russia releases its reply to US

MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. Russia notes that the US is willing to work on certain arms control and risk reduction measures, but will discuss them only together with the issues that are fundamental for Moscow, the Foreign Ministry said in a written reaction to the US reply to security guarantee proposals.

Russia stressed the need to de-escalate the situation around Ukraine by forcing Kiev to comply with the Minsk agreements, urging the West to refuse from military cooperation with this country. Also, Moscow demanded to withdraw the US troops from Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, warning that it will take military-technical measures if Washington is unready to negotiate.

Stable foundation

The US side has failed to provide a constructive response to the basic points of the draft treaty on security guarantees, deliberately choosing the issues that it feels comfortable to discuss, the foreign ministry noted.

That package nature of the Russian proposals has been ignored and ‘convenient’ issues have deliberately been picked up and then twisted to create advantages for the US and its allies,” the statement said. “This approach and the accompanying narrative by US officials are reinforcing substantiated doubts that Washington is really committed to rectifying the European security situation, the Russian foreign ministry emphasized.

The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out to Washington that Russia “proposed following the path of settling the unacceptable situation, which keeps developing in the Euro-Atlantic region, comprehensively and for the long term.” “This implies, first and foremost, creating a stable foundation of the security architecture in the form of an agreement, under which NATO will give up further actions damaging Russia’s security,” the statement reads.

“In the absence of readiness of the US side to negotiate solid, legally binding guarantees of our security by the US and its allies, Russia will have to react, including via implementation of measures of military-technical nature,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Ukrainian issue

“There is no “Russian invasion” of Ukraine, which the US and its allies have been announcing officially since last fall, and it is not planned, therefore, statements about “Russia’s responsibility for escalation” can be regarded as an attempt to exert pressure and devalue Russia’s proposals for security guarantees,” the document reads.

“The repeated claims in the US answer that Russia allegedly triggered a conflict in Donbass are groundless. Its causes are purely intra-Ukrainian. A settlement will be possible only by means of implementation of the Minsk Agreements and the Package of Measures. Their sequence and the responsibilities for their implementation were clearly described and unanimously confirmed by the UN Security Council’s Resolution 2202, including by the United States, France and Britain. Paragraph 2 of this resolution states that the participating parties are Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk. Not a single document mentions the responsibility of Russia for the conflict in Donbass. Russia together with the OSCE plays the role of a broker in the main format of negotiations – the Contact Group – and, together with Berlin and Paris, in the Normandy Quartet, which formulates recommendations to the parties of the conflict and monitors their implementation,” the document reads.

Weapons and forces in Europe

“We insist on withdrawal of all US armed forces and weapons, deployed in Central Eastern, Southeastern Europe and the Baltics. We are certain that national potentials in these areas are quite enough. We are ready to discuss these issues based on Articles 4 and 5 of the Russian draft agreements,” the document says.

“We are calling on the US and NATO to return to compliance with international commitments in the area of upholding peace and security,” the statement said. “We expect concrete proposals from the alliance’s members about the form and substance of the legal confirmation that further eastward expansion by NATO will be abandoned.”

“We note the persistent uncertainty in Washington’s approaches to the main parameters of potential measures of control over the abovementioned weapons, first and foremost – to the coverage of these measures, which must cover all means of the mentioned range in both nuclear and non-nuclear versions,” the document says.

Equation of security

“Russia continues to advocate an integrated approach to the strategic issue. We propose to engage in a joint development of a new ‘equation of security’,” the document reads.

“We take note of US attention toward the Russian idea about additional risk reduction measures regarding flights by heavy bombers near the national borders of both sides,” the statement said. “We see it as a matter for discussion with potential for mutually acceptable agreements.” “We remind of an equally important element of our package proposal, which concerns similar voyages by surface warships that also are associated with serious risks,” the statement said.

“The measures on strengthening of trust and security within the framework of the 2011 Vienna Document are adequate to the contemporary situation. In order to begin the discussion of its potential update, necessary conditions must be created. And, to that extent, the US and its allies must abandon its policy of containment of Russia, and take concrete practical measures on de-escalation of the military and political situation,” the foreign ministry noted.

 Source: TASS