MOSCOW, Feb 23The cancellation of the meeting between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva is an important signal that heralds a pause in Russian-American relations, but the dialogue will not be completely stopped, but the West’s negotiating positions will become tougher, the director general of the Russian Council for Foreign Affairs told RIA Novosti. International Affairs Andrey Kortunov. Earlier, Blinken announced that he was canceling the meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister, which was scheduled for February 24, because in the context of the situation in Ukraine, it does not make sense. Blinken said he had sent a letter to Lavrov on Tuesday informing him of the decision. At the same time, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the United States is ready for diplomatic cooperation with Russia, including at the highest level, «if and when» it goes to de-escalate the crisis around Ukraine. «(Cancellation of the meeting between Blinken and Lavrov) is , of course, an important signal, I think that it heralds a pause not only in Russian-American negotiations, but also in negotiations (of the Russian Federation) with other Western countries. Apparently, now in the near future there will not be such visits to Moscow that we observed, and, probably, the West wants to demonstrate its dissatisfaction with the decisions that were made in Moscow,» the expert explained. «But this does not mean that the dialogue will be completely stopped. It seems to me that dialogue is necessary not only for Russia, but also for Western partners, so in some form at some stage it will be restored,” Kortunov believes.12:43The aggravation of the situation in the DPR and LPR The State Duma told who pushed Ukraine to the conflict in DonbasHe added that the West's negotiating positions will now be tougher, not all of those response proposals on security guarantees that were set out in a document published earlier in El Pais , will remain.» Much will depend on how the situation in Ukraine develops further. In the West, they believe that the recognition of the sovereignty of the republics of the DPR and LPR is a prelude to a major military operation on the territory of Ukraine. Of course, this will change the situation if such an operation takes place Then these contacts will be postponed for an even longer period,» the expert noted. The situation in Donbass has escalated in recent days, the DPR and LPR have announced a lot of shelling by Ukrainian security forces. The leadership of the DPR and LPR announced the temporary evacuation of citizens to the Rostov region in connection with the threat of Ukraine's invasion. It primarily concerns women, children and the elderly. As stated by the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky will soon order the military to launch an offensive in the Donbass, to implement a plan to invade the DPR and LPR. On Saturday, February 19, the leaders of the DPR and LPR signed decrees on general mobilization, and then turned to Russia with a request to recognize the independence of the republics.01:47Blinken believes he knows Russia's «true» goal in UkraineRussian President Vladimir Putin addressed the citizens of the Russian Federation on Monday after the meeting of the Security Council and stated that he considers it necessary to immediately recognize the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. He noted that the world prefers not to notice the horror and genocide in the Donbass, not a single day goes by without shelling, the killings of civilians and the blockade do not stop. As the President stated, in case of further bloodshed in the Donbass, the entire responsibility will be on the Kiev regime. Immediately after the appeal, the president in the Kremlin signed decrees recognizing the LPR and the DPR. In his decrees, Putin instructed to ensure the maintenance of peace in the DPR and LPR by the armed forces of the Russian Federation. Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that Russia proposed to solve the problem of Donbass through peaceful negotiations and the implementation of the Minsk agreements, but this item has lost its relevance. According to him, the Minsk agreements were brought to naught by the efforts of the current Kiev authorities. He also added that the situation in Donbas tends to escalate. , Lavrov said. At the same time, the president said that he did not say that «our troops will go to the Donbass right now.» At the end of 2021, Russia published draft agreements 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. Published: Vlada Kopylova
