Moscow estimated Thursday, January 27 that Washington had not taken into account its security requirements, the day after the delivery of American responses to Russian requests, which are at the heart of the Russian-Western crisis on Ukraine and NATO.
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“
You cannot say that our views have been taken into account, or that there is a will to take our concerns into consideration
,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday, adding that Moscow was “
not going to be in a hurry
” to react for all that. "
We are not going to drag out the reaction, (...) but do not expect the reaction to come here now
," he added. The United States and NATO on Wednesday rejected key demands from Moscow, namely the end of the Alliance's enlargement and a return to its military deployments on the 1997 borders, while ensuring that they wanted to discuss seriously with the Russia of its fears for its safety.
“No positive answer to the main question”
For his part, the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, indicated that the United States had not given a positive response to the "
main
" Russian demand, namely the end of NATO enlargement, especially to Ukraine.
"
There is no positive answer to the main question
" in the documents received by Moscow from Washington, but "
there is a reaction that gives hope for the start of a serious conversation on secondary issues
Sergei Lavrov said in a statement.
"
The main question is our clear position on the unacceptability of NATO's continued eastward expansion and the deployment of strike weapons that could threaten Russian territory
," Sergei Lavrov said, denouncing a again "
the unbridled expansion of the
Atlantic Alliance" despite promises made in Moscow in the 1990s. Sergei Lavrov insisted on the fact that "
the right to choose one's alliances is clearly conditioned by the need to take into account the security interests of any other state
,” including Russia. According to him, this principle is "
deliberately passed over in silence
" by Westerners.
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"
We cannot accept such a position
", he further declared, adding that Moscow was "
in the process of studying the response received from the Americans
" and that received by NATO.
He said the final decision on how to respond to these documents rests with President Vladimir Putin.
