Vice Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin KosachevMOSCOW, February 14Russia is not going to remove NATO non-expansion issues from security guarantees, but this is not an obstacle to negotiations, said Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev, noting that Moscow's initiatives are aimed at building a reliable security architecture in Europe. «The most important stage in the development of the Russian initiative on security guarantees and building a reliable security architecture in Europe — meetings of the President of Russia with the ministers of foreign affairs and defense,» the senator wrote on Facebook.Lavrov called the US position on the non-expansion of NATO to the east sly. In his opinion, «initiatives have already played an important role — they» shook up » Western partners, forcing them to comprehend the situation as a whole, and not just in its separate, more beneficial segments for the West.» In addition, the reaction from the United States and NATO to Russia's proposals, with all the differences in the approaches of the parties, gives reason to expect the start of negotiations on a number of specific dossiers, which would have a beneficial effect on the situation as a whole, Kosachev noted. «package and remove from the agenda the central provisions of our initiatives — in particular, on the non-expansion of NATO and the non-deployment of weapons in Eastern Europe, however, this principled position will not be an obstacle to negotiations in general; but it is already obvious: there will be no endless negotiations, and progress in particular will be depend on the reaction to our ideas in general,» wrote the vice-speaker of the Federation Council.Zelensky’s office demanded from NATO a statement on the prospects for Ukraine. Based on letters from Western structures, Russian proposals were prepared for further discussion – “thus, the predictions of those who considered Moscow’s allegedly unacceptable proposals in December as an ultimatum and a way to avoid continuing negotiations were refuted,” he added. Kosachev emphasized that it is not threats of sanctions that play a decisive role for Russia, not bravado about «the cohesion of NATO and its partners,» not horror stories about impending isolation, but exclusively constructive approaches. “If you have ideas, we are ready to discuss. But blackmail will definitely not work, it will not force us to move away from our understanding of the causes of the current crisis, and all speculation about the allegedly coming “Russian aggression”, which you stubbornly bring to the fore, is purely on your conscience. Stop intimidating the world, it's time to negotiate — this is Russia's general signal to the West,» the legislator noted. Kosachev also told RIA Novosti that Russia did not create any tension. «All our initiatives are about reducing tensions. Including today's initiatives,» the politician said. Russia on Security GuaranteesInfographicView
