Acknowledgment of failure but maintained hope of achieving a « solution ». It is on this thread that Vladimir Putin evolves following the refusal of Westerners to accede to Russian “security proposals” concerning the European security order. “We are carefully analyzing the written responses received from the United States and NATO, but it is already clear that Russia’s key concerns have been ignored”, underlined the Russian president, Tuesday 1is February, following his meeting with the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban.
Mr. Poutine had certainly made the same observation a few days earlier, during a telephone interview with Emmanuel Macron, but he had not yet spoken publicly. However, in this diplomatic crisis which lasts, and over which hangs the threat of a military escalation, the word of the Kremlin is scrutinized.
Vladimir Putin did not go so far as to announce his intentions, or set a deadline for a Russian response. But he carefully avoided slamming the door of the discussions, saying he still hoped “a solution that satisfies the interests and security of everyone – Europe, Ukraine, Russia”. To say that the tone of the Russian president is conciliatory would be excessive. Mr. Putin once once more attributed the responsibility for the tensions to the West, who would have ” deceived “ Russia and seek to “dam it up” in “using Ukraine as an instrument, to draw us into an armed conflict”.
But there is a major difference with the messages conveyed in recent weeks by Russian negotiators. They have constantly warned of the need to conclude the work as quickly as possible, and to prevent, above all, that a Western refusal on the most disputed points would lead to the end of the discussions.
Rejection of Russian demands
These Russian demands were put on paper in December 2021, in the form of two draft agreements submitted to NATO and the United States. Their most sensitive points for the West were also those deemed most essential by Moscow: a ban on any future enlargement of NATO, including to Ukraine; withdrawal of Alliance forces from countries that became members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization following 1997; prohibition of any military cooperation with the countries of the former USSR which are not members of NATO.
With regard to NATO, Mr. Putin, for the first time on Tuesday, linked this claim to the situation in Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014: “Imagine, Ukraine, a member of NATO, which would launch a military operation to retake Crimea, a Russian sovereign territory, he said. And us what? Would we go to war with NATO? »
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