Putin: Washington has not shown determination to adequately deal with our demands

Moscow (ST): Russian President Vladimir Putin asserted that the United States did not show determination to deal appropriately with Russia’s demands in the context of talks on the file of security guarantees.

During a press conference with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow today, Putin stressed that relations between Russia and Belarus are based on joint cooperation and mutual respect based on respecting the interests of both countries.

Putin explained that they discussed strengthening the unified defense space of Russia and Belarus, and it was agreed to continue to take all necessary measures jointly to ensure the security of the two countries in light of the escalating military activities of NATO countries on the borders of the two countries, noting that joint military exercises (Union Packages 2022) will continue in Belarus until the twentieth of February.

On Russia’s initiative on security guarantees, Putin said, “The United States and other NATO member states have not shown determination to deal appropriately with the Russian demands, the most important of which are based on preventing the subsequent expansion of NATO, abandoning the deployment of strike systems near Russia’s borders, and restoring the military capabilities and infrastructure of the alliance in Europe to the state it was in in 1997 at the time of the signing of the basic Russia-NATO document.

Putin stressed that Russia is ready to move forward with negotiations, provided that all issues are considered as a single package without separating the basic Russian proposals, the implementation of which is an absolute necessity for Russia.

K.Q.