Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that Moscow “in its dialogue with the United States and its allies” would seek to reach some “concrete agreements that would preclude further NATO advance”, as well as Installation in the immediate vicinity of Russian territory of weapon systems which Moscow considers to pose a threat.
Speaking at the credentialing ceremony before ambassadors from 20 countries, including NATO countries such as Slovakia, Spain and Italy, Putin reiterated the position he had expressed a few days ago that West to give Russia some “security guarantees”, reminding that some countries “create tension near the Russian border”.
“In the dialogue with the United States and its allies, we will insist on drafting specific agreements that will preclude any further NATO advances to the east and the installation of weapons systems that threaten our immediate proximity to Russian territory,” he said. Russian President proposing to start talks on this issue.
The Russian president criticized NATO for violating its verbal agreements that it would not expand eastward, saying Russia would need guarantees. “I will point out in particular that we need specific guarantees under the law, legal guarantees, because the Western partners did not keep the corresponding verbal commitments that they had made. In particular, everyone knows about these verbal assurances that they had given, that NATO will not expand to the east, but they did the exact opposite. “In essence, Russia’s legitimate security concerns have been ignored and now continue to be ignored.”
Putin has repeatedly referred to the issue, claiming that such verbal assurances were given to Mikhail Gorbachev by Western leaders. NATO representatives deny that such guarantees were given. Under existing agreements between Russia and NATO, Moscow has no right to veto the accession of other countries to the North Atlantic Alliance. NATO, for its part, has made a number of commitments, including the non-deployment of nuclear weapons in the territories of the new member states of the alliance.
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