Ryabkov-Sherman Talks On Security Guarantees In Geneva

Without exaggeration, the attention of the whole world is riveted to the talks in Geneva. There is no time frame. The mood, judging by the way the preliminary meeting went last evening, is constructive. After that, the discussion will continue in Brussels at a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council and at the OSCE platform.

The negotiations have now been going on for over an hour. They are held in a closed format. Before the start, the cameramen had the opportunity to get into the meeting room for a few minutes. Everything is very restrained. Lack of handshakes, which can be associated with anti-covid measures. Delegations of both sides are interagency. They include both diplomats and the military. The Russian delegation is headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. First US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman at the head of the American delegation. They are both very experienced diplomats.

Russia is entering the negotiations with a firm position. Moscow needs written security guarantees. This is the key point. If there is no readiness for dialogue, RIA Novosti quotes Ryabkov, the US and NATO may face a deterioration in their own security.

“The American side must prepare for compromises. The Russian side came here with a clear position, which contains a number of elements, in my opinion, quite understandable and formulated so clearly, including at the highest level, that there simply cannot be deviations from these our approaches, ” Sergei Ryabikov said.

Three blocks of issues are important for Moscow: guarantees that NATO will not expand to the East; second, the exclusion of the appearance of attack missile systems at our borders with a minimum flight time; and third, the need for NATO to return to its 1997 origins. This includes, among other things, the elimination of the military infrastructure of the alliance. At the same time, the difficulties of ratifying agreements within NATO, according to Ryabkov, do not concern Moscow. The initiative to provide written guarantees to our country belongs to Vladimir Putin. In particular, he outlined the Red Lines regarding Ukraine's accession to NATO during his conversation with Joe Biden on December 7.

The previous evening, the first meeting of delegations in the format of a working dinner took place here in Geneva. After that Ryabkov commented on the course of the conversation: "Awesome, wonderful.

We plunged into the matter of the upcoming affairs. But the conversation is difficult. It cannot be easy."

From the American side, only a short statement by the US State Department came out that the United States supported the right of countries to independently choose which alliances to join. Judging by the official statements, Washington is not yet ready to discuss the issues of guarantees of NATO's non-expansion. Nevertheless, Ryabkov called the conversation the day before business, he believes that today the parties will not waste time in vain. The schedule is really tight. The negotiations can last until the evening. Upon their completion, the head of our delegation will answer journalists' questions. And so, extremely curious in this regard, is the reaction of the American side. The US State Department had warned in advance that Russian statements after the Geneva talks would not reflect reality.