Moscow’s top diplomat has expressed disappointment over the outcome of the long-awaited talks. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has submitted a diplomatic wishlist to Moscow amid Russia-NATO row, but kept the contents secret. Diplomacy thrives in darkness, Washington appears to suggest. However, it is now all revealed, and it does not look good.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has confirmed that Moscow has received a written response from the US to its requests for assurances over NATO expansion, expressing disappointment over the lack of concessions.
Speaking on Thursday, the country’s top diplomat said, “there has been no positive response” to its core concerns in the document provided by the American side following weeks of talks with their counterparts.
“The main issue is our clear position on the unacceptability of further NATO expansion to the East and the deployment of highly-destructive weapons that could threaten the territory of the Russian Federation,” Lavrov explained.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has revealed a list of diplomatic requests sent to his counterpart in Moscow in response to Russia’s security proposals, describing the paper as a “serious diplomatic path forward, should Russia choose it” during a Wednesday press conference.
However, while he restated several of Washington’s talking points with regard to the confrontation over Ukraine, he declined to go into specifics, arguing that “diplomacy has the best chance to succeed when we provide space for confidential talks.”
The top US diplomat described the document as addressing “core principles” that Washington is determined to uphold, such as “Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the right of states to choose their own security arrangements and alliances.”
Other issues covered included “reciprocal transparency measures regarding force posture on Ukraine,” “measures to increase confidence regarding military exercises and maneuvers in Europe” as well as “arms control related to missiles in Europe,” and “a follow-on agreement to the START Treaty that covers all nuclear weapons.” The US and Russia last year extended the New START Treaty by five years, meaning the last remaining arms reduction agreement between the two nations will expire in February 2026.
Blinken insisted the US was “open to dialogue” and would “prefer diplomacy” – but only “if Russia de-escalates its aggression toward Ukraine” and ceases what he called “inflammatory rhetoric.” He explained that NATO had developed and delivered its own paper while insisting the alliance’s document fully reinforced the US’ own and that there was “no daylight” between the country and the transcontinental alliance it controls.
Despite the diplomacy-centered rhetoric, however, the secretary of state boasted the US had provided more weapons to Ukraine in 2022 than in any previous year, as well as authorizing its NATO allies to transfer their own weaponry to the supposedly-imperiled Eastern European nation. The US and NATO have also moved or activated thousands of troops and other military resources in the area in the event of what they insist is a near-inevitable invasion by Russia.
Blinken met with Russian FM Sergey Lavrov last week to discuss the comprehensive list of security guarantees Moscow delivered last month, but the State Department took a confrontational pose on Monday, announcing that it would not make any “concessions” to Russia that did not benefit both nations. One particular sticking point has been Russia’s insistence that NATO cease expansion eastward, a guarantee Washington has thus far refused to consider.
The US Secretary of State added that he expects to speak with his Russian counterpart again “in the coming days.”
Alliance rejects key Moscow demand to stop expansion into former Soviet territory, demands Russian withdrawal instead
NATO has said it “will not compromise” on potential expansion into Ukraine, Georgia, and other former Soviet republics, as this clashes with the “core principles” of the alliance, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on Wednesday.
The alliance’s response, which Stoltenberg said all 30 members agreed upon, was delivered to Moscow earlier in the day by the US ambassador, alongside Washington’s separate written note.
The US has asked Russia to keep the contents of its response private.
Stoltenberg, who was half an hour late to the scheduled online press event, outlined three basic topics that the NATO response touched on. One was re-establishing diplomatic ties between NATO and Russia, which he blamed Moscow for severing. The other was NATO’s readiness to “engage in dialogue” and “listen to Russian concerns,” while respecting the right of each country to choose its own security arrangements.
Russia should refrain from “aggression” aimed at NATO allies and withdraw from “Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova,” where it is not wanted, Stoltenberg said.
Ukraine insists that Moscow is “illegally occupying” Crimea, which voted to rejoin Russia after the 2014 coup in Kiev. Russia has also recognized the independence of two breakaway regions of Georgia that Tbilisi tried to seize by force in 2008, and has maintained peacekeepers in the disputed Moldovan region of Transnistria since 1991.
The third area of possible cooperation listed by Stoltenberg involves “risk reduction” and transparency agreements on exercises, as well as arms control proposals that he argued have been so effective previously. Since 2001, the US has unilaterally exited the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty, the Open Skies treaty, and the intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) treaty, claiming without evidence that Russia was in violation of them.
“A political solution is still possible, but, of course, Russia has to engage in good faith,” Stoltenberg said, accusing Moscow of “aggression” against Ukraine since 2014.
Stoltenberg insisted that “NATO is a defensive alliance and we do not seek confrontation,” but repeatedly said that the alliance “cannot and will not compromise on principles” such as the right of every country to join. That decision rests solely with the applicant country and NATO members, now 30 in number, he said.
Asked about the reluctance that some NATO members have reportedly displayed in recent weeks, Stoltenberg maintained that “all allies are on board, all our allies have agreed” with the written response submitted to Russia. Croatia’s president has publicly said he would withdraw all troops from NATO in case of war in Ukraine, while Germany has reportedly denied the use of its airspace to UK weapons deliveries to Kiev.
Stoltenberg also reassured reporters that NATO has “plans in place we can activate on very short notice” if Russia “invades” Ukraine, with the lead element of 5,000 troops from the French-led NATO Response Force (NRF) on high alert, and the US assigning 8,400 troops on high readiness to the force as well. The Pentagon has previously said that some 8,500 US troops have been placed on heightened readiness status, but the decision had not been made to deploy them yet.