Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Alexander GrushkoMOSCOW, Jan 18Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Grushko and Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service for Political Affairs Enrique Mora during a meeting on Tuesday discussed Russian proposals on security guarantees, the Russian diplomatic service reported. «The state and prospects of Russia-EU relations, including the schedule of political dialogue, were considered. military-political aspects of security in Europe, the Russian side explained proposals for the formation of long-term legally binding security guarantees,» the ministry said in a statement. />The expert said about the «strange» tone of NATO in the negotiations with RussiaThe parties also exchanged views on the intra-Ukrainian conflict and stressed «the need for full and unconditional implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures, which is the unalternative international legal basis for the settlement.» «The Russian side called on the European Union to refrain from taking steps directly or indirectly encouraging Kiev to sabotage the implementation of the Minsk agreements,» the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Grushko and Mora also touched on the situation in the Western Balkans, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan, as well as the prospects for a Middle East settlement.
The political scientist spoke about the victory of Russian diplomacy in negotiations with the United States At the end of 2021, Russia published drafts of a treaty with the United States and an agreement with NATO on security guarantees. Moscow, in particular, demands from its Western partners legal guarantees of refusing further expansion of NATO to the east, from joining the bloc of Ukraine and from establishing military bases in post-Soviet countries. — On January 10, the issue was discussed in Geneva at meetings with the United States, on January 12 — during a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council, on January 13 — at the OSCE site. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the United States promised next week to «put on paper» a response to Russia's proposals, a written response from NATO is also expected within a week. Russia, according to Lavrov, needs a specific response to each article of the documents put forward, the further actions of Moscow and the prospects for resuming negotiations will depend on the response of the United States and NATO.
