Stoltenberg: NATO will talk to Russia, but we must be prepared for the “possibility of diplomatic failure”

Published:

7 ene 2022 16:24 GMT

The meeting of the NATO-Russia Council is scheduled for January 12.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made the announcement on Friday Press conference The Atlantic Coalition is always ready to listen to the concerns expressed by Russia and will “do all it can to find a political way” to resolve existing differences.

However, Stoltenberg said that for the talks to be meaningful, NATO must also address the concerns of its allies over Moscow’s actions, which means that the dialogue should be “based on key principles of European security and in consultation with Ukraine.”

NATO-Russia Council Meeting, Is expected Next January 12, the Kremlin aims to advance the issue of mutual security guarantees in the European region, amid Western fears of a Russian military invasion of Ukraine. Moscow denies all allegations and condemns the expansion of the military base toward the east and its national borders as threatening its security.

“The risk of conflict is real”

Stoltenberg promised that NATO would seek to resolve tensions with Moscow through negotiations, although it did not rule out the possibility that these efforts would fail. “NATO will engage in a dialogue with Russia in good faith and with key issues, but we must be prepared for the possibility of diplomatic failure,” he said.

“The danger of conflict is real,” the NATO secretary general concluded.

Moscow Raised Continuing security assurances to NATO in December that other countries that were part of the former Soviet Union in the Ukraine-Atlantic alliance would not enter and expand the alliance in the East. The initiative also bans the deployment of medium and short-range missiles and nuclear weapons outside the national borders of each party.

“Are we placing missiles near US borders?”

Skynews recently answered a journalist’s question Press conference Every year, Putin insists that Russia does not threaten anyone with “unconditional guarantees” that it will not invade Ukraine, and that the Kremlin’s actions will not depend on negotiations, but rather “unconditional security. From Russia.”

“Do we keep missiles near US borders? No. The United States has reached our home with its missiles and is on our doorstep,” the Russian president insisted. “You ask too much not to place the attack system near our house, what’s so strange about that?” Asked the President.

“What if missiles were fired at the US-Canada border? Or in Mexico?” he said Putin recalled that the United States has historically had “regional conflicts” with its southern neighbors. “Whose is California? And Texas, have they already forgotten?”

In this case, the Russian president demanded that Washington provide a security guarantee. “They must be guaranteed immediately,” Putin said, adding that NATO had promised not to expand “even an inch east” in the 1990s, but since then there have been five phases of expansion of the system.