NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has scheduled a special meeting of the alliance’s ambassadors with high-ranking Russian officials next week as the two sides seek dialogue to prevent an open conflict over Ukraine, the NATO official said today.
Concerned about Russia’s military deployment along Ukraine’s border, the Western military alliance has been seeking a NATO-Russia Council meeting for months, but the forum appeared to be in jeopardy following an espionage dispute in October. .
The Council meeting, a format used for dialogue since 2002, will take place in Brussels on January 12, following talks between US and Russian security officials on January 10 in Geneva.
Moscow is seeking assurances that NATO will halt its eastward expansion and end military cooperation with Ukraine and Georgia.
“Any dialogue with Russia should proceed on the basis of reciprocity, respond to NATO’s concerns about Russia’s actions … and consult with NATO’s European partners,” the NATO official said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that Russian officials would attend the NATO summit in Brussels.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and other high-ranking Russian officials are expected to attend the talks in Brussels after meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Geneva.
On January 13, the talks will continue in the broader format of the Geneva-based Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which includes the United States and its NATO allies, as well as Russia, the Ukraine and other former Soviet states.
NATO foreign ministers meet extraordinarily on Friday
Extraordinary teleconference of the North Atlantic Council at the level of Foreign Ministers, chaired by the Secretary General of the Alliance Jens Stoltenberg, will take place on Friday, January 7, 2022, at 15.00 (Greek time). NATO foreign ministers will discuss the deployment of Russian troops in and around Ukraine and broader European security issues.
US on Ukraine: “We are working to de-escalate the crisis”
Russia’s military activity on the border with Ukraine was brought to the fore in the discussion that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had on Monday with the Group of Nine in Bucharest (including Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia). , Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia), as stated by the State Department in a statement.
Mr Blinken “reiterated the United States’ commitment to continued close consultation and coordination with all our transatlantic allies and partners as we work to de-escalate (the crisis) through deterrence, defense and dialogue,” the statement said.
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