Moscow gives green light for new showdown with Washington — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

Russia’s prime diplomat Sergey Lavrov is ready to go head-to-head with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Switzerland on Friday, Moscow has confirmed, amid strained relations with Washington.

Talking throughout a briefing on Thursday, the spokeswoman for Russia’s International Ministry, Maria Zakharova, disclosed that the 2 envoys will negotiate in Geneva on January 21.

In accordance with her, the diplomats will talk about the Kremlin’s proposals, that are geared toward signing “safety ensures,” limiting the growth of NATO towards Russia’s borders, and making an attempt to “decide doable additional steps” for negotiations on assurances geared toward enhancing security on the European continent.

Final week, Russian diplomats held crunch talks with NATO representatives on safety points, following on from prior discussions between officers from Washington and Moscow.

Talking final Friday, Lavrov careworn that Russia is turning into more and more weary of the actions of Western powers. Moscow’s “persistence has come to an finish. We’re very affected person … we’ve been harnessing [burdens] for a really very long time, and now it’s time for us to go,” he cautioned.

NATO Secretary Common Jens Stoltenberg stated final week that the army bloc was able to schedule “a collection of conferences on numerous subjects, together with restrictions on missile weapons in Europe” with the Russian facet. Nonetheless, he reiterated that the group wouldn’t again down or compromise on what it considers its core values to fulfill Russia’s calls for, together with its proper to confess Kiev as a member of the bloc.

In December final 12 months, Moscow handed over a draft treaty to Washington, and one other to NATO, which requested for assurances corresponding to a dedication to cut back army workouts in Jap Europe and a ban on putting missiles close to Russia’s frontier. The textual content additionally included a name for the American facet to rule out NATO growth into nations that had been republics of the Soviet Union, together with Ukraine.

Stoltenberg, nonetheless, insisted that solely Kiev and the bloc’s 30 members “can determine when Ukraine turns into a member … Russia doesn’t have a veto.”