U.S. Ambassador to Russia Sullivan: Security Assurance Discussions More Effective in De-escalation
John Sullivan. Photo: Evgenia Novozhenina / Reuters
US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan named the condition for effective negotiations with the Russian Federation on security guarantees. He said in an interview with Kommersant that the discussion would be more effective in de-escalation on the border with Ukraine.
“We believe that these discussions [on security guarantees] would be most effective against the background of de-escalation, especially the situation on the border with Ukraine. And that was made clear by both [US President Joe] Biden and Secretary of State [Anthony] Blinken and my colleagues at the White House and the State Department, ”he said.
The ambassador also answered the question of what exactly the United States considers “de-escalation”. According to Sullivan, it involves a number of actions, including the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Ukrainian border. He expressed the hope that an agreement would be reached on a ceasefire and the fulfillment of the terms of the July 2020 armistice in Donbass, and that this would be accompanied by “de-escalation on the other side of the border, where the Russian side has mobilized troops.” “Yes, I understand, this is Russian territory, but this is the territory of Russia bordering on a sovereign country, and this is very threatening to this country,” he said.
Earlier, the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Policy and Security Josep Borrell, following a telephone conversation with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, said that the EU is closely coordinating its actions with transatlantic partners regarding Russia's proposals on security guarantees.
On December 20, aides to the presidents of Russia and the United States, Yuri Ushakov and Jake Sullivan, held a telephone conversation, during which they discussed security guarantees. The leaders' advisers continued their discussion in the context of the well-known Russian proposals set forth in two draft documents and previously submitted to the American side.
