Russia Says They Won't Accept Preconditions For Talks
By Donald Standeford, Correspondent
Date Published: December 24, 2021 12:45PM UTC
Last Modified: December 24, 2021 12:45PM UTC
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov says that Russia will not be accepting any 'preconditions' from Washington on security guarantees.
"We would like the agreements that we put on paper to be formalized promptly so that they take the shape of contractual agreements. If the US demands we carry out some activities on our territory as a precondition, which will appeal to Washington and to other NATO capitals or which the Americans would like to present as a precondition for future work at Kiev’s behest, this won’t do" he stated.
He said that if something like this happens then Russia will then come to the conclusion that the United States lacks 'political will to make agreements' and is taking advantage of the developments to "cover up its ongoing policy aimed at using the territory of Ukraine and other countries for military purposes against Russia".
"This is what made us put forward these proposals" he said. "Under these circumstances, the responsibility for future tensions - and they seem inevitable in such a situation - will be shouldered by the Americans and US allies".
Russia is currently warning Washington not to delay negotiations on 'security guarantees' which include demands that NATO and the United States withdraw all troops from eastern Europe and agree not to expand as well as withdrawing NATO's promise to allow Ukraine to join the treaty organization in the future, demands that have already been rejected by the United States.
Ryabkov said "From the very beginning, we have been expressing readiness to immediately engage in dialogue without delay. However, I presume that the Christmas season turned out to be an obstacle for them. A brief pause between Western Christmas and the New Year’s Day will follow, but the process cannot be delayed any longer".
