Moscow has no intention of attacking the US-led military bloc and is prepared to give official guarantees to that effect, the top diplomat has said<\/p>\n
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has outlined Moscow\u2019s vision of relations with an increasingly belligerent NATO, US President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, and the security architecture in Eurasia.
\nLavrov touched on these and other topics at an international security conference in Minsk, Belarus on Tuesday.
\nHere are the key takeaways from his address:
\nRussia-NATO relationsMoscow \u201chas repeatedly said that we have had no intention of attacking any of the current NATO and European Union member states,\u201d Lavrov stressed. He added that Russia is prepared to give official guarantees to this effect as part of a future security architecture in Eurasia.
\nAccording to the foreign minister, EU leaders are studiously avoiding these discussions, aiming instead for \u201csecurity guarantees against Russia, as opposed to with Russia.\u201d
\nLavrov claimed that the West is openly preparing for a \u201cnew big European war\u201d against Russia and key ally Belarus. He said there is ongoing militarization across most European NATO member states.
\n\u201cNATO\u2019s expansion has not stopped for a single minute, despite assurances not to move eastward by an inch given to Soviet leaders,\u201d\u00a0he said, accusing the West of seeking to preserve its \u201cglobal dominance\u201d despite the dawn of a new era.
\nThe Western military bloc is attempting to establish a foothold as far afield as the Asia-Pacific, with a view to containing China, North Korea, and Russia, Lavrov stated.<\/p>\n
Russia-US dialogue
\nRussia needs \u201cguarantees\u201d that a potential summit between President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, \u201cwill yield a concrete result,\u201d the foreign minister explained.
\nTentative discussions on a meeting in Budapest, Hungary began after the two presidents spoke by phone earlier this month. Last week, Trump clarified there are no plans for talks in the near future, as he wants to make sure it would not be \u201cwasted time\u201d in terms of resolving the Ukraine conflict. On Sunday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov similarly said that both Moscow and Washington have to do a substantial amount of \u201cpreparatory work before top-level negotiations can take place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Ukraine conflict can\u2019t be resolved overnight \u2013 Kremlin<\/p>\n
Moscow hopes that the US president \u201creally wants a stable peace,\u201d Lavrov said. He expressed incredulity at the apparent change in Trump\u2019s rhetoric in recent days, as the US president called for an immediate ceasefire along the current front lines. Moscow has rejected this scenario, insisting that the root causes of the Ukraine conflict should be addressed first.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Arms control
\nMoscow is awaiting Washington\u2019s official response to Putin\u2019s proposal to extend the central limitations of the New START Treaty \u2013 the only remaining arms control agreement between Russia and the US \u2013 for one year after it expires on February 5, 2026, Lavrov said.
\nIn force since 2011, the accord limits both signatories to no more than 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads.
\nEarlier this month, Trump described the proposed extension as a \u201cgood idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Russia rescinds key nuclear treaty with US<\/p>\n
However, there is no chance of renewing the accord beyond the suggested one-year extension, the Russian foreign minister clarified. Moscow\u2019s proposal is a goodwill gesture meant to give both Russia and the US enough time to work out a new agreement, he said.For this to happen, \u201ca fundamentally different atmosphere is needed in Russia-US relations,\u201d Lavrov argued, adding that some headway in restoring dialogue had been made in recent months, though there is still a lot of work ahead.<\/p>\n
Eurasia\u2019s role
\n\u201cEurasia today is the geopolitical center of the newly emerging multi-polar world,\u201d Lavrov stated in Minsk.
\nIn order to minimize the risk of conflicts in Eurasia, a new security architecture is required, providing all nations with security guarantees, he suggested.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Kremlin weighs in on Trump claim that countries want to \u2018drop out\u2019 of BRICS<\/p>\n
NATO and the EU are actively attempting to undermine the establishment of this structure, hell-bent on turning Eurasia into its \u201cfiefdom,\u201d the foreign minister said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Moscow has no intention of attacking the US-led military bloc and is prepared to give official guarantees to that effect, the top diplomat has said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t