In an interview with Izvestia, the transcript of which was published on the Russian Foreign Ministry website, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov described Russian relations with the U.S. as characterized by “one-sided negative predictability.” This is the result, he said, of “the U.S. tendency, by and large, to deny Russia the role of a major independent player in international relations while trying to impose its own approaches to a whole range of issues, including how we should live in our own country.”
In Ryabkov’s view, the tension over Ukraine “is primarily Washington’s geopolitical project, an attempt to expand its sphere of influence by getting new instruments for strengthening its positions, which Washington hopes will eventually allow it to dominate this region,” he said. “It is also a way of creating problems for us by endangering our security. We have openly pointed out that there are red lines which we will not allow anyone to cross, and we also have certain requirements, which have been formulated exceedingly clearly.”
Later in the interview, Ryabkov called NATO expansion one of the biggest problems in the Euro-Atlantic region. “NATO’s unrestrained expansion over the past decades has shown that Western advances, promises, and commitments are of little value unless they are legally formalized. Soviet and later Russian leaders were told by responsible officials that NATO would not expand eastwards,” he said. “We see that the situation is diametrically opposite.”
