NATO logo in front of Brussels headquartersMADRID, Feb 2, by Elena Shesternina. One of The authors of the material in the Spanish newspaper Pais, which published US and NATO responses to Moscow's proposals for security guarantees, Ibay Arbide Asa told RIA Novosti that he was in Ukraine. Earlier, the publication posted a file called «Documents provided by NATO and the United States in response to the agreement, proposed by Russia on December 17» to the Network with the initial data «Kiev and Madrid». The text noted that Washington agreed to discuss the following issues with Moscow:
- —mechanism for non-deployment of Tomahawk cruise missiles in Romania and Poland;
- —mutual commitment to limit the deployment of offensive missile systems and forces in Ukraine;
- —alternative START-3 agreement, also affecting new types of nuclear weapons, as well as control of intermediate and shorter range missiles;
- —additional measures to prevent incidents at sea and in the air;
- —mutual commitment to limit the deployment of offensive missile systems and forces in Ukraine.
At the same time, it was indicated that the White House is ready to start a dialogue on arms control in response to the withdrawal of troops and peacekeepers from the Crimea, Transnistria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. One of the authors of the material, Ibai Arbide, is now in Ukraine. The journalist did not disclose where he managed to get this information. According to him, he «knew from the very beginning that the source was reliable, that the documents were real, but, despite this, they checked (the authenticity of the documents. — Approx. ed.) And from other parties.» «It's not just one source,» he added.NATO refused to comment on the publication of the responses of the alliance and the United States in the media. According to him, the publication will not interfere with diplomatic contacts. “I don’t think that this can have an impact on the negotiations, since the positions reflected in the documents are not so different from those publicly voiced. But there were some issues that we did not know about and which are interesting. I have no intention of interfering in the course of the negotiations, and I’m unlikely to be able to, I’m just a freelancer,” he said. Arbide added that it is important for readers to know the conditions under which each side negotiates such an important issue. “The duty of any journalist is to publish the truth. I don’t think that there is at least one journalist in the world who, having this information and being able to confirm it, would not publish it. All of us, journalists, are working on significant news that not only influences, but also arouses interest,” said Arbide. He himself lives in Greece, works for Muzungu Producciones, with which Pais signed a contract to send a reporter to Ukraine. /wp-content/uploads/2022/02/b69ae78d3e348dacf29571c6d77699f3.jpg» />InfographicUkraine issue and negotiations with the WestIn recent months, relations between Russia and the West have become even more tense. Washington and its allies accuse Moscow of preparing an «invasion» of Ukraine and, against this background, are strengthening their presence in Eastern Europe and threatening to tighten sanctions. Russia rejects all claims and recalls that Kiev does not comply with the Minsk agreements: the Armed Forces of Ukraine have concentrated half of the army’s personnel near the line of contact and are firing at militiamen from prohibited weapons. Moscow has repeatedly indicated that the goal of the “aggression” stuffing is to build up a foreign group near the borders of Russia . In addition, the Kremlin and the Foreign Ministry explained that the main reason for the escalation in Ukraine is the actions of the United States and NATO, which send military instructors, weapons and equipment there, increase the number of exercises, thereby pushing Kiev to military adventures. At the end of last year, Moscow handed over Brussels and Washington draft documents on security guarantees and received a response in early February. The White House wanted to keep it a secret, however, the text was coordinated with all US allies and Ukraine, so Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that he had no doubts that the document would soon be leaked. The day before, Vladimir Putin said that Russia had not seen «adequate accounting three of our key demands» — preventing expansion to the east, refusing to deploy strike weapons systems near Russian borders, and returning NATO's military infrastructure in Europe to the state of 1997. The President recalled that now the bloc includes the Baltic countries, Poland and Romania, although after the collapse of the USSR, Moscow's Western partners promised not to expand their presence in this part of the continent. The materials published by El Pais also say that NATO continues to adhere to the «open door» policy, but, as Putin said earlier, it is not fixed anywhere in the documents of the alliance. NATOInfographicView