In regard to the negotiations announced by Ukraine on security guarantees from the West for Kyiv, the Kremlin has warned of an aggravation of the situation in Europe, as the German news platform tagesschau.de reports.
According to Russian news agencies, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that bilateral security guarantees would contradict the international principle of the “indivisibility” of security. Russia stresses that Ukraine’s security should not come at the expense of Russian needs. Russia continues to claim that it feels threatened by Ukraine’s possible accession to NATO. This assertion also served as justification for the war of aggression launched more than 17 months ago, according to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.
In contrast, NATO repeatedly stresses that it poses no threat to Russia. Ukraine plans to hold talks with the U.S. this week on security guarantees. The head of the presidential office in Kyiv, Andriy Yermak, said that the talks are about concrete and long-term commitments by the U.S. to help Ukraine win against Russia now and prevent future aggression by Moscow.
Image: president.gov.ua, Зустріч Президента України з Федеральним канцлером Австрії 44 (cropped), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (image size modified)