(Washington) The United States said on Tuesday it expected dialogue with Russia, particularly on Ukraine and more broadly on security in Europe, to start in January, while warning Moscow that some of its requirements were “unacceptable”.
The American government has already said it is ready to discuss Russian requests bilaterally, but also within the Council bringing together NATO and Russia, or even within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE ).
“There will be no discussion on European security without Europeans,” US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, Karen Donfried, told reporters on Tuesday. “We said clearly that we would do this with the Alliance of 30,” she added of NATO, while Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to favor a face-to-face with the United States .
“Regarding the bilateral dialogue, we will decide on a date together with Russia and we believe that it will take place in January”, explained the diplomat.
She also stressed that the Atlantic Alliance would very soon “invite” Moscow to a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council, the consultation body created in 2002 between the two blocs – a proposal so far rejected by the Russians.
“My impression is that you will see movement on all of these channels in January,” said Karen Donfried.
Westerners accuse Russia of preparing for a possible invasion of Ukraine, having massed tens of thousands of soldiers on the border with the neighboring country. They threaten Moscow with “massive” and unprecedented sanctions in the event of aggression.
Asked about the possibility that these sanctions include the most radical path, that aimed at cutting Russia off Swift, an essential cog in global finance, the American official confined herself to saying that “no option” was “excluded. “.
President Putin considers on the contrary that it is the attitude of his Western rivals which is threatening and demands that Washington and NATO give guarantees by signing treaties prohibiting any future enlargement of the Atlantic Alliance. Russia presented draft texts to this effect last week.
“We are ready to discuss Russia’s proposals. There are things that we are ready to work on that we think deserve a discussion, “but” there are other things in these documents that the Russians know will be unacceptable, “Karen insisted. Donfried.