The US authorities are ready to negotiate with the Russian Federation on its security proposals, but believe that there are unacceptable elements in them. This was announced by a high-ranking representative of the Washington administration on Friday at a special briefing on the situation between Russia and Ukraine, TASS reports.
"As we said, we are ready to discuss them, but there are some points in these documents that, as the Russian Federation knows, will be unacceptable. "... But there are other elements we are ready to work with that deserve discussion," she said.
The United States will present to Russia next week its concrete views on security talks in Europe in response to Moscow's proposals in this area. "And we will return to them with concrete proposals at some point next week," the official said.
"We are in discussions with our European allies and partners and will contact the Russian government soon about the next steps," she said.
She was asked to comment on the publication by Moscow of a draft agreement between Russia and the United States on security guarantees. "Unlike the Russian Federation, we do not see any advantage in conducting these negotiations in public: neither those we lead with our allies and partners, nor those we will lead with Russia. We believe that if there is a chance for diplomacy to work, then it must be done on a confidential basis, "said a representative of the administration.
On Friday, Russia's foreign ministry released two draft documents providing legal security guarantees from the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on NATO to begin substantial talks aimed at providing Russia with reliable and long-term security guarantees. He clarified that Moscow needs legal guarantees, as Western counterparts have not previously fulfilled their respective oral obligations. As Russian President Dmitry Peskov's spokesman told reporters, Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov told US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan's adviser that Moscow was ready to begin talks immediately on draft security guarantees. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov will represent Russia in the consultations.
In addition, the United States is ready to use bilateral ties with the Russian Federation and Ukraine to resolve the conflict in Donbass, but considers the "Norman format" to be central. "We are focused on how the United States could support the implementation of the Minsk agreements and support the Allies in the Normandy format, France and Germany, in their efforts in this area. "I want to emphasize that the 'Norman format' remains the central format for negotiations on the Minsk agreements, the United States is ready to use our bilateral channels of communication with Moscow and Kiev to support [these negotiations] if we can," he said. the Washington administration and stressed that the United States, "like the" Norman format "countries, is particularly interested in the Christmas truce [in Donbass] and the exchange of prisoners." "This is being discussed now," she said.
russia's ambassador to france, alexei meshkov, said earlier that french authorities were quite skeptical about the us joining the "norman format", but the us factor in resolving ukraine's internal conflict could not be ruled out.
the normandy format has existed since june 2014. then, during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the allied landings in normandy, the leaders of russia, ukraine, france and germany discussed for the first time the settlement of the conflict in donbass. since then, five summits have been held, the last on december 9, 2019 in Paris.
The United States is threatening Russia because of the escalation of the situation around Ukraine with economic sanctions, not military force, a US administration official confirmed.
"It seems to me that we have made it clear enough that the package we are working on, and the EU says the same thing, will include serious economic and financial consequences, political consequences and so on," he said. She answered the question whether Washington is considering the potential use of military force in the event of Russia's aggressive steps towards Ukraine.
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