The US officially responds to Kremlin on Russian ultimatum

Author

Olga Krotovska

The Russian Foreign Ministry received an official written response from the United States yesterday evening to a draft bilateral treaty on security guarantees. As noted on the website of the Russian department, U.S. Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan handed over the corresponding document to Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Alexander Grushko during a personal meeting.

What Russia required

Earlier, Moscow put forward an ultimatum to the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance on providing legal guarantees of non-expansion to the east, the withdrawal of weapons from the eastern flank, the coordination of new NATO members (Ukraine in particular), and a number of others—a total of eight paragraphs. After presenting its document to Washington, Moscow repeatedly noted that it would like to hear a clear answer on each of the paragraphs.

What the US responded

According to Kommersant, Sullivan gave Grushko two responses at once—from Washington and NATO. The Russian Foreign Ministry wanted to make the text of the response public, however, according to the department, the American side asked not to do this.

"Probably, we cannot publish the American document, but the substance of their reaction, the content of their reaction to our documents, of course, deserves that the public in Russia and other countries be informed about this. I am sure that we will be able to do this," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented on the situation.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated during a briefing that the response delivered to the Kremlin expressed "the concern of the United States and its allies and partners about Russia's actions to undermine security" and proposals on the paragraphs.

"We make clear that there are core principles that we are committed to uphold and defend, including Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the right of states to choose their own security arrangements and alliances," the U.S. Secretary of State stressed at the briefing.

Blinken added that the United States declared its readiness for dialogue, commitment to diplomacy and intention "to move forward where there is the possibility for communication and cooperation if Russia reduces the escalation of its aggression toward Ukraine." He stressed that the US response was fully coordinated with Ukraine and European allies. Without going into details, the Secretary of State stated that one of the main principles outlined in the documents was the decision not to abandon NATO's "Open Door" policy.

Moreover, he recalled military assistance to Ukraine and added that at the moment the United States was trying to find a way to help the country's economy that had already suffered from the Russian threat.

Context. The North Atlantic Alliance announced a decision to enhance its military presence in the countries of Eastern Europe and put its troops on standby amid the threat of a Russian attack on Ukraine.