Conducting US dialogues without excluding threats to impose sanctions on Russia

The Russian-American negotiations on security were complicatedUnder Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said her country and Russia had a better understanding of the other’s concerns and priorities.

In this sense, the US is conditional on eventual progress on Russia taking “concrete steps to de-escalate tensions,” Sherman said, repeating threats about possible actions the US and its allies would take if the Eurasian country launched an invasion against Ukraine, to a point the Kremlin denies. and rejects it.

Speaking to reporters after eight hours of talks with Russian officials, the second US diplomat said these costs would include, among other things, major financial penalties.

He also commented that the United States is open to discussing the future of certain missile systems on the so-called Old Continent in relation to the old Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which former President Donald Trump withdrew (2012-2021). in 2018.

The meeting in Geneva, which took place in the context of the Strategic Stability Dialogue, agreed in June by President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, is a forum for Washington and Moscow to directly address security concerns and final solutions.

Sherman is then scheduled to travel to Brussels, Belgium, to brief NATO partners on bilateral talks with Russia.

He stressed that the United States is ready to continue discussions on bilateral issues, but that “negotiations on complex issues such as arms control cannot be completed within days or even weeks.”

As for Russia, the main issues related to the security guarantees proposals were put on hold at Monday’s meeting, according to the discretion of the Eurasian Deputy State Counsellor, Sergei Ryabkov.

However, the official considered the negotiations very concrete and substantive and noted that Russian diplomats had the opportunity to present the logic and content of the draft agreements that were handed over to Washington and the NATO leadership.

Political decisions will be made after the January 12 talks with the military alliance and the next day’s meeting with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Russia has made it clear how important it is for its country to have legal guarantees against NATO expansion and against the deployment of offensive forces near its borders that could hit targets on its territory.

acl / dfm