The Russian Foreign Ministry refused to accept the response of NATO and the EU on Russian “security guarantees” due to the fact that they considered it “disrespectful”.
In particular, the speaker of the Russian ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that the “collective response” reminded the Kremlin of “mutual responsibility.”
They also expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov allegedly did not turn to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Josep Borrell for answers.
According to Zakharova, the addressees of Lavrov's letter were the foreign ministers of 37 countries. These are the EU countries, the USA and Canada.
Also, the speaker of the Russian Foreign Ministry claims that the Kremlin was expecting a “detailed response in a national capacity.”
“Instead, Jens Stoltenberg and Josep Borrell wrote to us, whom we did not contact. Such a step cannot be described otherwise than as a manifestation of diplomatic impoliteness and disrespect for our request,” said Maria Zakharova.
She also noted that the Russia-NATO and OSCE documents contain the principle of the indivisibility of security, and it states that countries participate in their national capacity.
That is why, according to the speaker of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Kremlin does not accept a “collective response” and continues to wait for a “detailed response” to its questions from each addressee.
Zakharova also claims that the responses from Borrell and Stoltenberg allegedly do not have a “substantive reaction” to the message of Sergey Lavrov, instead they contain a proposal to enter into a dialogue on strengthening security.
Recall that the Russian Foreign Ministry offered the United States and NATO to conclude an agreement on “security guarantees”, which provide for the rejection of further expansion of the alliance, as well as Ukraine's entry into it.
This text appeared in Russian media on December 15.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also stated that he wants the US and NATO to legally secure that Ukraine will not be taken into the Alliance.
NATO and the United States reject these demands, but offer Moscow a diplomatic dialogue and urge it to remove its troops from the Ukrainian state border.
