Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde ZURICH Feb 10The response of the EU countries to the letter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on security guarantees was prepared in coordination with the North Atlantic Alliance, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said. On January 26, the Russian Foreign Minister sent a message to his colleagues in NATO and the EU countries, Switzerland, in total — 37 addressees . They contain a request to explain how these states intend in practice to fulfill their commitments taken within the OSCE at the highest level on the indivisibility of security, not strengthening their security to the detriment of others, and to state why they do not intend to do this.
Lavrov commented on the statements about Russian troops in Ukraine «A strong and united response of the EU in coordination with NATO to the Russian letter on European security. We remain firmly supportive of the European security order based on international law. Implementing what we have agreed will make Europe safer,» Linde wrote on her Twitter account. Earlier, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that he had written a response to the letter of the Russian Foreign Minister on behalf of all EU countries. He once again added that the EU «calls on Russia to de-escalate and curtail its military buildup near the borders and on the territory of Ukraine, as well as in Belarus.» The official representative of the Union's foreign service, Peter Stano, specified that Borrell's response is a common position of the EU countries on issues, raised by the Russian minister.
Lavrov compared the meeting with the head of the British Foreign Office with a conversation between the mute and the deafKiev and Western states have recently expressed concern about the alleged increase in «aggressive actions» by Russia near the borders of Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied such accusations, saying that it does not threaten anyone and is not going to attack anyone, and statements about «Russian aggression» are used as an excuse to deploy more NATO military equipment near Russian borders. The Russian Foreign Ministry previously noted that statements The West about «Russian aggression» and the possibility of helping Kiev defend itself against it is both ridiculous and dangerous. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is moving troops within its territory and at its own discretion. According to him, this does not threaten anyone and should not worry anyone. At the end of 2021, Russia published draft agreements 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 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 written responses to Russia's proposals on security guarantees to Moscow.
