Russia: Demands 'Have Not Been Taken Into Account' Warns Of 'Unavoidable Nuclear Missile Crisis'

Russia has responded to the written response by the United States and NATO: Demands 'Have Not Been Taken Into Account'

Donald Standeford

 Russia has responded to the written response by the United States and NATO saying that its demands main demands have 'not been taken into account' and warned of an unavoidable nuclear missile crisis if measures aren't taken.

The long anticipated written response delivered in person from the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) regarding Russia's security demands, as well as demands that Ukraine never be allowed into the NATO alliance was not taken well by the Kremlin. 

In the response, Washington repeated its commitment to upholding NATO's Open Door Policy, which makes membership an option for sovereign nations ready and 'willing to undertake the commitments and obligations of membership'.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) delivered its own response, 'in parallel with the United States' which reiterated earlier responses to Russia.

The Open Door policy from NATO states that "The door to NATO membership remains open to other European countries which are ready and willing to undertake the commitments and obligations of membership and whose membership contributes to security in the Euro-Atlantic area".

Upon receiving the written response from the United States and NATO however, Russian Foreign Minister Sergeĭ Viktorovich Lavrov stated that there was "no positive response to the main question" referring to Russia's demands that Ukraine never be allowed into the NATO alliance.

After the response was given, Vladimir Ermakov, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official warned that a nuclear missile crisis between Moscow and Washington is avoidable without measures to ensure restraint and predictability. 

Ermakov put out a report saying that Russia believes the United States is setting out to deploy short and intermediate range missiles in Europe and in the Indo-Pacific region according to the report.

Regarding a nuclear missile crisis, Ryabkov stated "You know, it could quite possibly reach that point. If comrades on the other side fail to understand us and keep doing what they are doing, we might wake up at some point to see something similar, if that’s what further developments will suggest".

"That would be a total failure of diplomacy, a failure of foreign policy. But there’s still time to try to reach an agreement based on reason" Ryabkov said.

Russia reveals US response to security proposals

RT

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has confirmed that Moscow has received a written response from the US to his country's requests for assurances over NATO expansion, expressing disappointment over the lack of concessions.

Speaking on Thursday, the top diplomat said, “there has been no positive response” to the Kremlin's core concerns in the document provided by the American side following weeks of talks with their counterparts.

“The main issue is our clear position on the unacceptability of further NATO expansion to the East and the deployment of highly-destructive weapons that could threaten the territory of the Russian Federation,” Lavrov explained.

According to Lavrov, the document promised by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken following talks last week in Switzerland failed to address these points.

“It is significant that when our Western colleagues react to our proposals, they always call for the implementation of agreed principles in the Euro-Atlantic... they immediately say this means NATO has the right to expand and no country has the right to prohibit it.”

Reacting to the document later the same day, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Russia is now contemplating its response, and the document is being assessed by President Vladimir Putin. According to the spokesman, the requests put forward by the Russian side have not been fully taken into account by Washington and the US-led military bloc.

“There are and should always be prospects… for further dialogue,” he said. “It is in our interests and in the interests of the Americans. But as for the substantive dialogue on the draft documents, there are issues of a different nature, but I will not get ahead of myself,” Peskov added.

Lavrov also revealed that the content of the document “is likely to become known to the general public in the very near future.” However, he added, “as our American colleagues told us, although they would prefer to keep it confidential, it has been agreed with all of the US’s allies, as well as the Ukrainian side. There’s no doubt it will be leaked in the very near future.”

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