Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made clear today that a security arrangement for Europe and Russia was key for peace and that, so far, Europe has never made any such proposal.
He was asked, as reported by TASS, about a comment of U.S. President Trump, who, after meeting with Russian special presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, had said that “there’s going to be a big agreement” that would not only bring the conflict in Ukraine to an end but also concern all of Europe. Peskov first said: “There are no details.” Regarding security guarantees that include Russia, he replied, “As for any proposals from the Europeans, none have reached us, and we are not aware of any.”
Peskov explained: “Since discussions will eventually address Europe’s future security system and mutual security guarantees for Russia and Ukraine, reaching an agreement will, of course, require dialogue with European countries at some stage. Therefore, dialogue with the Europeans will be necessary.” However, European countries are at least a couple of steps away from dialogue with Russia. Rather: “As we can see, they have not even been able to decide who can speak [with Russia] on their behalf. So, on their side, we are seeing prolonged indecision and a lack of readiness.”
Later in the day, TASS reported on a Foreign Ministry release, “On the Efforts of the USSR and Russia to Establish Collective Security”, which provided a quick review of the last two decades of Russia’s efforts, rejected by the West. It concluded: “Russia, like its predecessor, the USSR, has never experienced a lack of goodwill in matters related to international cooperation in the interests of ensuring collective security. Nevertheless, all of Russia’s attempts to integrate into Euro-Atlantic structures as an equal member were rejected, as were the initiatives to create a unified legal-contractual military-political space in Europe. It was the NATO countries and the European Union that destroyed the military-political dimension of the OSCE. The assurances given to the Soviet leadership about the non-expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance to the east were effectively disavowed.”
