The Russian military delegation to both the Strategic Stability Dialogue talks with the U.S. in Geneva and the NATO-Russia Council meeting in Brussels was led by Deputy Defense Minister Colonel-General Alexander Fomin. According to a statement issued by the Russian Defense Ministry on Jan. 12, Fomin stressed that “Russian-NATO relations are at a critically low level. This is happening against the backdrop of global instability, the terrorist threat, the deployment of another arms race, as well as the complete degradation of the security architecture in Europe.” He also noted that “in the current legal documents regulating relations between Russia and NATO, there is a commitment to cooperation as partners, without creating threats to each other’s security.” It was stated that “the Russian side has repeatedly proposed to the alliance to take measures to de-escalate the situation. On the part of the alliance, Russian initiatives were ignored. This creates prerequisites for incidents and conflicts, and undermines the foundations of security.”
Fomin also reiterated the key issues for Russia as expressed in the two draft treaties released in December which are: firstly, guarantees of non-expansion of NATO to the east at the expense of Ukraine and other countries; secondly, the obligation not to deploy new American medium-range and shorter-range missiles in Europe, since the deployment of such weapons can dramatically worsen security conditions on the continent; thirdly, the restriction of military activity in Europe, the exclusion of the build-up of so-called “forward-based contingents.”
All proposals have been brought to the Russia–NATO Council and are on the negotiation table, the ministry statement concluded, adding that “the Russian side expects constructive discussion in order to reach the preparation of agreements on security guarantees for the Russian Federation as soon as possible.”
