Numpty smoke and mirrors from Liz and the gang p117 Feb 2022 12:57
Question: What specific proposals from the West, received in response to the Russian initiative on key security issues, does Moscow consider acceptable?
Sergey Lavrov: I already talked about this at yesterday’s news conference. They are not really proposals from the West. They are Russia’s proposals that the West has received from us over the past two or three years, and has consistently rejected. Now that we have upped the ante on the security issues in Europe, the West has had to accept it and then present responses as its own initiatives. After the United States threw out the INF Treaty, President of Russia Vladimir Putin suggested, in messages to Western leaders, imposing a bilateral moratorium on developing and deploying land-based missiles of this class. There was no reply. This proposal was simply ignored. At about the same time, the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces presented a package of initiatives for consideration by the North Atlantic Alliance, including measures that would make exercises safer and more predictable, and that would reduce security risks during combat aircraft flights and warship maneuvers. We have repeatedly proposed restoring ties between Russia’s military and NATO. The North Atlantic Alliance discontinued ties unilaterally like most other forms of cooperation, in 2014. The West made these points in its response and expressed a willingness to hold what it called a serious dialogue on these issues. We consider this a positive step. We will be ready for such a dialogue but not at the expense of clearing up the principled issues of our position, which concern the need to stop NATO’s reckless eastward expansion and searching for other ways to ensure security in the Euro-Atlantic countries. President of Russia Vladimir Putin talked about this in detail in his recent news conferences.
Question: What can you tell us about the continuing hysteria over Russia’s alleged invasion of Ukraine? The US Department of State has given new deadlines. Why did US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ask you for a meeting recently? What did he want to talk about if the US wants some new “evidence” and it has not changed its position?
Sergey Lavrov: We reported on the content of yesterday’s telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. I cannot add anything to that.
As for this continuing hysteria, I cannot say we find it amusing, but we are truly perplexed. No matter what we do on our territory, the West considers it its right to lecture us on how to behave. This is simply a lack of good manners.
This can be seen in the recent calls to “check on what Russia is doing there.” It’s as if we announced an end to the exercises but they “don’t believe us.” Supposedly, they will have an opportunity to verify it with satellites and other information from their intelligence agencies.
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