US rejects Russian proposal that Ukraine not join NATO

Negotiations in Geneva took place at the initiative of the Russian side. On December 17th, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced a draft agreement with NATO and the United States on security guarantees.

Under Russian conditions, the United States should not establish military bases on the territory of non-NATO members of the former Soviet Union, and the alliance should stop expanding to the east.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called the negotiations “difficult”. He said Moscow needed guarantees, not promises. According to him, the failure of Ukraine and Georgia to NATO is a matter of Russian national security.

It is absolutely necessary for us to ensure that Ukraine will never become a NATO member. We want the formula adopted at the 2008 Bucharest summit to be withdrawn and replaced with the following: Ukraina and Georgia will never become NATO member”, Ryabkov said.

He stressed that Moscow had explained in detail to Washington the logic of its proposals and explained why obtaining legal guarantees for nonproliferation of NATO was an absolute exercise.

While Sherman said the United States had made it clear in the security guarantees talks that they were willing to discuss the installation of missiles in Europe, but that they disagreed with the restrictions on accepting new countries into NATO. She stressed that negotiations on security issues cannot be concluded in a short period of time day or week.

There was a discussion today to understand each other better, as well as each other's priorities and concerns. That is not what negotiations were called,” she said.

According to her, the United States offered Russia to meet to discuss the matter again soon.

Sherman said that during the talks, the US side suggested to Russia that the consequences of the invasion of Ukraine would be far more serious than in 2014. She added that the United States defines de escalation as returning Russian soldiers to their barracks or informing the United States of what exercises are being conducted in Russia and what is their goal.

“They can testify that they are not planning to invade by converting troops into barracks or telling us what exercises are being conducted and what is their target”, she said, adding that the US still does not know whether Russia is ready for this kind of de-terration.

The meeting between the Russian and American delegations lasted about 7.5 hours and was held on closed doors.