NATO-Russia talks on Ukraine end in stalemate, leaving one more negotiation

Russia and NATO ended four hours of talks on Ukraine with no resolution on Wednesday, in the second round of high-level European discussions aimed at preventing Moscow from invading Ukraine again. America and Russia hold bilateral talks in Geneva on Sunday and Monday, and Ukraine will join the conversation for the first time on Thursday, when Russian diplomats sat down in Vienna with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Ukraine is a member of the OSCE but not yet NATO.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has deployed some 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s border, is asking NATO to ensure Ukraine and Georgia never join the alliance. Moscow is also seeking to “dismantle all NATO military infrastructure installed in Eastern European countries after 1997, in an attempt to overcome the consequences of the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, which left Russia in disarray. weak for many years”. Articles washington report.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after Wednesday’s meeting in Brussels that all 30 members of the security alliance agreed that NATO “cannot discuss some core principles” at the behest of Russia, especially especially the “open door” policy of the bloc, according to which countries should decide for themselves. foreign policy and geopolitical alliances. He said that the Russians made no secret of NATO’s offer to negotiate further on the limits of arms and numbers.

“There is a real danger of a new armed conflict in Europe,” Stoltenberg said. “We are wise. So we also send a message to Russia that if they use military force, there will be serious consequences; economic sanctions; political sanctions.”

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said the concerns Russia raised about its own security made no sense given that “it is a powerful country” with a huge nuclear arsenal and a huge nuclear arsenal. permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. “The fact that they feel threatened by Ukraine, which is not one of them,” is confusing, she said.

Other officials and diplomats say that Russia has used the session in part to air old grievances, including NATO’s involvement in the war in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the bombing campaign. aerial bombs over Libya in 2011 contributed to the death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi,” Politico Europe report. “Stoltenberg says NATO allies from the former Yugoslavia have directly opposed the Russian allegations.”