EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep BorrellBRUSSELS, Jan 30The European Union expects countries such as the United States, Qatar and Azerbaijan to compensate for gas supplies in the event of a decrease in its supplies from Russia, Josep Borrell, head of EU diplomacy, wrote in his blog. Borrell believes that reducing or even stopping gas supplies from Russia to the EU could occur in the event of a failure of security talks in Europe. At the same time, the Kremlin has repeatedly stated that Russia has always flawlessly fulfilled its contractual obligations for gas supplies to Europe and has not given reason to doubt its reliability. >Britain will develop a bill on new sanctions against Russia»We need to be prepared in case diplomacy fails. We are considering all possibilities and scenarios, including cooperation with partners such as the United States, Qatar and Azerbaijan, on the issue of gas supplies in case if Russia decides to reduce or stop supplies,» Borrell said. 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 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. On January 26, the United States and NATO sent to Moscow written responses to Russia's proposals on security guarantees. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow is studying the responses of the United States and NATO, after interdepartmental coordination it will be reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin, he will decide on further steps. According to Blinken, the document reflects US concerns about Russia's security actions and suggestions on areas where the countries can find common ground. 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.
US warns of disaster in case of tough sanctions against Russia
