Russia entrenches itself in security demands, but is willing to talk about missiles

MOSCOW, Feb 17 – Russia on Thursday reaffirmed a series of security demands that the United States and its allies have already rejected, but said for the first time that it was willing to talk about mutual inspections of missile sites.

In a lengthy document delivered to the US ambassador, Moscow accused Washington of failing to respond constructively to demands it put forward in December, including halting NATO’s eastward expansion.

Russia’s “red lines” continue to be ignored, he said in a reply to US and NATO counterproposals received last month.

The document was released at a time of heightened tension over the Ukraine crisis, with Russian forces massing near its neighbor’s borders and Western governments saying they could strike at any moment.

Russia again demanded the withdrawal of all US forces from Central and Eastern Europe, something that Washington and NATO have described as impossible.

• Russia says its troops are returning

However, the RIA news agency quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying that Moscow was willing to discuss the possibility of allowing verification of some of its missile installations in European Russia in return for verification of missile defense sites in Russia. United States in Poland and Romania.

The idea had been floated by Washington last month.

The mutual inspections, if carried out, could address concerns expressed by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Polish and Romanian sites could be used to deploy Tomahawk cruise missiles against Russia.

The Russian document listed a series of demands to de-escalate the situation around Ukraine. Among them, the cessation of Western arms supplies and the withdrawal of those already sent, the departure of Western military advisers and trainers from Ukraine and the cessation of any joint NATO exercises with Ukraine.

“If the US side is not willing to agree to firm and legally binding guarantees of our security from the US and its allies, Russia will be forced to respond, including by applying military-technical measures,” the document said.

Russia has suggested in the past that “military-technical measures” could include the deployment of missiles and troops.