Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow has presented the US with security proposals in a bid to ease tensions in the region surrounding Ukraine.
Russia passed the proposals to Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried, who met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in Moscow on Wednesday. It’s not yet clear exactly what Russia proposed, but Putin has said he wants guarantees that NATO won’t expand further eastward or send troops and missiles into Ukraine.
Putin also wants NATO to rescind its promise that Ukraine will eventually become a member of the military alliance. Last week, The Associated Press reported that US State Department officials told Ukraine that a NATO membership is unlikely to be approved within the next decade.
Donfried said she would be sharing Russia’s proposals with US allies. “Ryabkov asked to meet with me to share Moscow’s proposals on European security. I will take these ideas back to Washington and also share them with our allies and partners,” she said.
Russia is eager to work out the security guarantees, and Putin said he wants to “immediately launch negotiations” with the US and NATO. “The president expressed hope that the Americans and NATO members will respond positively to this,” Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov said, according to Interfax.
Putin held virtual talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping Wednesday, and the Russian leader said Xi supports the push for security guarantees. “The Chinese president stressed that he … fully supports our initiative to develop appropriate security guarantees for Russia,” Ushakov said.
Washington’s greatest fear, a peace offensive. They’ve crossed the red line in the sand, threatening the US military budget/MIC profits. All options on the table. Immediately deploy the Ministry of Truth pundits to explain to us how this is another evil Russian subterfuge to influence the mid-term elections.
I’m with you Robert. In addition, I am mightily p-off in the midst of all the problems the world is dealing with to have these kinds of tensions going on. The US NEEDS to extend itself to reassure Russia that we will not distress their security or their territories. Whenever I hear any reference to NATO, my skin crawls. It is interesting that the backlash from all of this business is creating a stronger alliance between Russia and China, both countries must be feeling our heat…
Yes, yes, yes. Thank you.
I fully agree with both of you!!!!
Imagine- talks with civilized behavior and an effort to understand the position of the “adversary”!!!
Totally. But in the their obsession with own goals, they are failing to see what is happening.
Russia would not have started. this process without a goal. What do they think, that Russia would go through the trouble of spelling out the proposal that addresses its security needs, just to be ignored as before? To be told that Russia “does not have a veto over NATO decisions”.
It is clear that Russia has other moves planned this time.
US is threatening to cut off Russia frim SWIFT. These and other excuses to boycot trade and investments, to suffocate economic development are merelely tools to force Russia (and China) to star conceding, caving in on various fronts.
Russia and China have given ample time to Western countries to reverse course, and normalize relations. Outcome? Even without doing anything to aggravate situation, they are daily accused of misdeeds.
They apparently concluded that in the West, the change of course to adversarial relatiins is permanent — especially after the change in Germany with Grerns (equivalent of US neicons) coming to power and as a minority partner getting control of foreign policy.
With Macron in France and Draghi in Italy, Johnson in UK — there is no change of course seen anywhere. In US, clearly there is no difference between Demicrats and Republicans. Trump not only was no abberation, but in hindsight alpears that he executed the change both parties wanted — but needed a populist, with red country credentials to do it. Now both corporate parties can just call him crazy Dinald, and happily continue building upon these new agressive foundations.
Result — Russia and China get it, and after a decent period of taking all the s..t being shoved into their faces, are goung into contra-offensive.
Where does it lead, and how will it be coordinated, who knows.
But Ukraine may well be on the menu.
Do you think Kiev-Washington (ie Victoria Nuland) would start something to recover Crimea? like the pipeline royalties, a very lucrative revenue stream to an otherwise nonviable economy?
Our guys in Washington are hard at work to stop the natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
They think Russia cares! Germany made the agreement for commercial reasons- at least Merkel was fair on this issue.
I don’t think anyone (except a few US Senators) could think that possible. Crimea was “Ukrainian” only for internal USSR reasons for a short time, has always been Russian, including wars against Nazis, and was “annexed” after a referendum. Of course, NATO would have put a base where the Russians already had an agreement at Sebastapol!!
The MIC cannot have peace. Gee whiz, anyway. Don’t no one take away their punch bowl.
One doesn’t make peace by talking to one’s allies. One makes peace by talking to one’s adversaries.
Correct. Occam’s Razor.
Good luck Putin, NATO is expanding all over the world, even So. America has been proposed as NATO country. Insanity and the Cosmic Joker rules Wash. today. Protect yourself. The Joker is full of malicious mischief which may culminate in WWIII.
It’s best described as statolatry: worship of the state: advocacy of a highly centralized and all-powerful national government.
“Anti-Russian sentiment in Ukraine is largely confined to the westernmost areas of the country, especially Galicia, as these areas were ruled by the Poles and the Austrians for centuries, making the people there distinctively different to the rest of the Ukrainian population.”
“Most of the officers and many of the infantrymen in the Ukrainian Army are drawn from the westernmost areas of Ukraine, such as Lvov, Ternopol, and Volyn, as the American-installed puppet government in Kiev can only rely on people in those parts of Ukraine as anti-Russian.”
Dr. Marcus Papadopoulos, Twitter 5 hrs ago
Also, in 2014 the election favoured Yanokovich ie not just the Donbass, but a majority of the voters preferred the pro-Russian alternative which the US∕Nuland violently tossed out.