MOSCOW (TASS): On December 15, Russia handed over to the United States drafts of a bilateral treaty on security guarantees and an agreement on measures to ensure the security of the Russian Federation and the NATO countries. Moscow hopes that Washington will soon begin talks, said in a Friday statement the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“During the meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry on December 15, the American side received draft agreements between the Russian Federation and the United States on security guarantees and agreements on security measures for the Russian Federation and the member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In the near future, they will enter into serious negotiations with Russia on a critical issue for maintaining peace and stability, “the message says.
The American side was given the necessary explanations of the logic of the Russian approach in a det-ailed form, the correspondi-ng arguments were presented, the department added.
The proposed document consists of eight articles and covers the main aspects of the provision of mutual security guarantees by Moscow and Washington. The draft reflects the calls that the Russian side has voiced more than once, and proposes a solution to the accumulated problems and threats, including those that arose after the US withdrawn from the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty), as well as stages of the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance and its further plans. …
The document, first of all, outlines the principles of indivisible and equal security, non-prejudice to each other’s security. To th-is end, the agreement inc-ludes the following clauses: refusal from actions and measures affecting the safety of the other party, non-participation in them and refusal to support them. In addition, the draft document provides for the rejection of security measures, individual or within the framework of an international organization, military alliance or coalition, which would undermine the fundamental security interests of the other side.
NATO expansion eastward
“The United States of A-merica undertakes to excl-ude further expansion of t-he North Atlantic Treaty O-rganization in an eastern direction, to refuse to admit the states that were previously part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics into the alliance,” reads one of the articles of the document.
In addition, the Russian project envisages the obligation of the United States not to create military bases on the territory of states that were previously part of the USSR and are not members of NATO, as well as not to use their infrastructure for any military activity and not to develop bilateral military cooperation with them.
The document assumes that the parties will refuse to use the territory of other states for the purpose of preparing or carrying out an armed attack against each other and other actions affecting the fundamental security interests of one of the parties.
Deployment of armed forces and weapons
Moscow in the draft treaty also invites Washington to refrain from deploying its armed forces and weapons, including within the framework of international organizations, military alliances or coalitions, in areas where such deployment would be perceived by the other side as a threat to its national security, with the exception of such deployment in within national territories.
“The parties refrain from flying heavy bombers equipped for nuclear or non-nuclear weapons, and finding surface warships of all classes, including within alliances, coalitions and organizations, in areas, respectively, outside national airspace and outside national territorial waters, from where they can hit targets on the territory of the other side, “- stated in the document.
In addition, the Russian side included in the draft a clause on maintaining a dialogue and implementing interaction to improve mechanisms for preventing dangerous military activities on the high seas and in the airspace above it, including agreeing on the maximum distance of rendezvous between warships and aircraft.
A separate article is dev-oted to the INF: “The parties undertake not to deploy ground-based intermediate and shorter-range missiles outside their national territory, as well as in those areas of their national territory, of which such weapons are capable of hitting targets on the national territory of the other side.”
Nuclear weapon
The document also touches upon issues related to nuclear weapons. “The parties exclude the deployment of nuclear weapons outside the national territory and return such weapons already deployed outside the national territory at the time of the entry into force of this treaty to the national territory. The parties will eliminate all existing infrastructure for the deployment of nuclear weapons outside the national territory,” the draft says …
The document includes the topic of involving the military personnel of non-nuclear countries in the preparation of the use of such weapons and in the relevant exercises. “The parties do not train servicemen and civilians from countries that do not possess nuclear weapons for the use of such weapons. The parties do not conduct exercises and training of general-purpose forces, including the development of scenarios with the use of nuclear weapons,” the text says.
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