Senator Alexey PushkovMOSCOW, 26 Jan. Senator Alexei Pushkov commented on the words of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba that Kiev would not accept concessions made behind his back. The Ukrainian minister made the corresponding statement in an interview with CNN, commenting on the negotiations between Russia and the West. «We will not be in the position of a country that picks up the phone, listens to the instruction of a major power and follows it,» he argues.The Foreign Ministry urged the United States to give written answers on security guarantees As Pushkov noted in his Telegram channel, Ukraine, despite Kuleba's «pathos and bravado», no one will ask about strategic issues. «What concessions at her expense? What does this have to do with it? We are talking about relations and the balance of power between Russia, on the one hand, and the United States and NATO, on the other,» he pointed out. According to the senator, Ukraine appears in this issue only as «a field of collision.» «So let her head of the Foreign Ministry not pout too much. There is a sharp struggle around the current and future world order. That's the point. And not in the «wishlist» and whims of Kiev,» Pushkov concluded. At the end of 2021, Russia published draft treaties with the United States and agreements with NATO on security assurances. Moscow, in particular, demands from its Western partners legal guarantees of refusing further eastward expansion of NATO, joining the Ukrainian bloc, and establishing military bases in post-Soviet countries. The proposals also contain a clause on the non-deployment of NATO strike weapons near Russia's borders and the withdrawal of alliance forces in Eastern Europe to the positions of 1997. The first meeting between the Russian Federation and the United States, dedicated to dialogue on Russian initiatives, was held on January 10 at the level of deputy heads of foreign affairs agencies. This was followed by a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels and consultations at the Vienna site of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. In continuation of the discussions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken held talks in Geneva on January 21. Lavrov, after talks with the US Secretary of State, said that Washington promised to send Russia a response to proposals on security guarantees this week. Lavrov noted that it would be right to publicize Washington's response on security guarantees, will ask Blinken about it. post a response on security guarantees
