EU flags near the headquarters of the European Parliament in Brussels. File photoMOSCOW, Jan 30Russia will seek legally binding guarantees from the West that would ensure security on the European continent with full and equal consideration of Moscow's legitimate interests, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. «We will seek not only assurances, political obligations «on paper», but also legally binding guarantees that would ensure security on the entire European continent with full, equal consideration of the legitimate interests of the Russian Federation,» Lavrov said in the Sunday program on Channel One.
TNI: US Security Guarantee Negotiations Deadlocked Lavrov said earlier that if the US were asked not to publish its response to Russian security proposals, Moscow would not do so. At the same time, the minister added that the essence of Washington’s reaction to the Russian proposals, of course, deserves to be informed of the public in Russia and other countries. At the end of 2021, Russia published draft treaties with the United States and agreements 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 Ukrainian bloc and from 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. According to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the document reflects US concerns about Russia's security actions and proposals on areas where countries can find points of contact. According to him, there are «very positive things» in the written response, the United States is ready to move forward in areas where cooperation with Russia is possible, ready to discuss common security, the response once again emphasizes that the United States will not compromise NATO's «open door» principle.
The political scientist assessed the prospects for negotiations with the US and NATO on security
