MOSCOW (TASS): The possible participation of the European Union in Russia’s negotiations with the US and NATO on security guarantees would have no added value. This was stated on Tuesday at an online briefing by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the EU Vladimir Chizhov.
“It has no definite added value,” he said, answering the question whether the EU’s participation in these negotiations is expedient.
Chizhov explained that the EU is not a military bloc, so the Russian proposals are addressed specifically to NATO, which includes many EU countries. “The main content of our proposals is issues of tough security. The issue of non-deployment of medium and shorter-range missiles – does the European Union deploy them? The European Union is not a military bloc,” the diplomat said.
“We are not against the supportive role of the European Union in these organizations (NATO and OSCE – TASS note). Moreover, I would be glad to see the collective contribution of the EU countries, which are NATO members, to the common position of NATO,” Chizhov stressed. on the basis of our proposals to become a military bloc is probably not included in our plans either. “
The European Union itself needs to take the first step to break the deadlock in Russian-EU relations, into which it has driven itself, Chizhov noted. The diplomat described the prospects for overcoming the crisis in relations between Russia and the European Union as bright. “I think that the awareness of the abnormality of the current situation has already come to those who determine the line of the European Union. It remains to get out of the impasse into which the European Union has driven itself, but it must do it on its own, at least the first step,” Chizhov said.
“But when [the EU] has accumulated enough political will and does so, it always knows where to find us,” added the permanent representative of the Russian Federation.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told TASS that Russian-American consultations on security guarantees are scheduled to take place on January 10 in Geneva. As for the consultations between Russia and NATO on security guarantees, they, according to Ryabkov, will take place in Brussels after a meeting between representatives of Moscow and Washington.
On December 17, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a draft agreement with the United States on security guarantees and an agreement on security measures for the Russian Federation and the member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They were handed over to US Assistant Secretary of State Donfried on December 15.
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