For the first time since 2019, a Russia-NATO Council meeting took place yesterday in Brussels, with the discussion topic being Moscow’s demands regarding “security guarantees.”
Participating in the negotiations were NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the permanent representatives of the 30 states of the military alliance, and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. The Russian delegation is headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko and Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin.
Russia is demanding from the West “security guarantees” enshrined in a document, including never accepting Ukraine or any other former USSR country into NATO, and withdrawing military infrastructure and alliance forces from those Eastern European countries that joined the North Atlantic alliance after 1997.
Moscow is making these demands in light of new tensions in its relations with the West. Western countries fear that Russia may invade Ukraine, on whose borders it has already concentrated thousands of troops and military equipment.
Moscow denies the accusations and in turn accuses Kyiv of increasing its military potential with Western help, while also criticizing the North Atlantic military alliance for conducting exercises near Russia’s borders.
