U.S. Sees Talks With Russia On Security In January As Putin Ramps Up Rhetoric
According to RFE/RL, The United States and Russia will likely hold bilateral talks to discuss Moscow's security proposals next month as the Kremlin ramped up is rhetoric by again warning it was prepared to take military measures if the West launched "unfriendly" actions with regard to Ukraine.
"We will decide on a date together with Russia, and we believe that that will take place in January," Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried said in a call with media on December 21.
Donfried said that NATO will be holding a meeting on December 21 to discuss inviting Russia for talks on its proposals. Meanwhile, she said the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was working out how it wants to engage Russia.
"My sense is that we will be seeing movement in these channels in the month of January," she said.
Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hoped for constructive talks with Washington and Brussels on Moscow's security concerns, which include opposition to NATO membership for Ukraine.
"Armed conflicts and bloodshed are absolutely not something we would choose. We do not want such a scenario," the Russian leader said.
In a meeting with Defense Ministry officials, Putin took a much sharper tone, warning the West against supplying weapons to Ukraine, including missiles that could reach Moscow in minutes.
He said if the West continued its "obviously aggressive stance," Russia would take "appropriate retaliatory military-technical measures."
Russia "will react toughly to unfriendly steps," Putin said, adding that he wanted to underscore that "we have every right to do so."
His tough comments follow on Russia's publication last week of the sweeping new security demands it is seeking from the West that would essentially give Moscow a sphere of influence in neighboring countries while rolling back many of the advances NATO has made in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union since the 1990s.
The demands were laid out in the form of two draft agreements with the United States and NATO.
Donfried said that some of the demands were unacceptable and that Russia knows this, but added, "there's merit in having a discussion" and that the West was "ready to engage."
Addressing concerns among the military alliance's eastern contingent, the U.S. official said that NATO will consult with all 30 members as it engages in talks with Russia.
