EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep BorrellBRUSSELS, Feb 8The head of European Union diplomacy, Josep Borrell, believes that Russia is not interested in «capturing» Ukraine, but seeks, first of all, negotiations to resolve its security issues in Europe. «The goal is not to conquer Ukraine. We are talking about is to achieve negotiations to discuss important (for Russia — ed.) things — NATO expansion and existing security concerns,» Borrell said, speaking at an event organized by the French Embassy in the United States.
Macron: Kiev reaffirmed its commitment to the ceasefire in Donbass “I believe that what is important for Russia is not Ukraine, but the new security architecture in Europe… Russia has security concerns, a desire to talk about it, so Russia puts pressure on Ukraine,” Borrell said. He added that Washington and the EU are ready to discuss security issues with Russia. Kiev and Western states have recently expressed concern about the alleged increase in «aggressive actions» by Russia near the borders of Ukraine and threaten with new sensitive sanctions. The administration of US President Joe Biden, amid rhetoric about plans attributed to the Russian Federation for a possible invasion of Ukraine, began sending additional military personnel to Europe. Moscow has repeatedly rejected such accusations, stating that it does not threaten anyone and is not going to attack anyone, and statements about » Russian aggression» are used as a pretext to deploy more NATO military equipment near Russian borders. 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 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 the borders of Russia and the withdrawal of alliance forces in Eastern Europe to the positions of 1997. Later, the United States and NATO sent to Moscow written responses to Russia's proposals on security guarantees.
