Washington is ready to engage in diplomacy with Moscow, including through the NATO-Russia Council and the OSCE but the dialogue must address US concerns about Russia’s actions and be based on reciprocity, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Monday.
Describing the Monday conversation between Sullivan and Ushakov, the White House noted that the substantive progress can only occur in an environment of de-escalation rather than escalation.
The conversation came in light of the handful of security proposals Moscow offered security guarantees as well as a promise by NATO to refrain from expanding westward any from military activity in Ukraine or
Stressing that Moscow expects a substantive dialogue with the United States, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko warned earlier on Monday that Russia taking a tough stance on its security proposals and would respond proportionately if NATO deploys offensive weapons on the territory of its member countries.
The head of the Russian delegation to the Negotiations on Military Security and Arms Control in Vienna, Konstantin Gavrilov, also warned on Monday that, whether officials wanted it or not, the US is obliged to engage in a dialogue with Moscow on security guarantees for the sake of peace in Europe.
Amid escalating tensions with the US-led bloc, the top Russian diplomat has stressed that NATO must be aware that pushing past Moscow’s declared red lines and further into Eastern Europe, will make a military response inevitable.
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