Russia must accept and & nbsp; respect the right of other countries to choose their foreign policy and & nbsp; union, which it would like to join & nbsp; … This is how the & nbsp; European Union responded to & nbsp; RBC's request for & nbsp; new Moscow initiatives on & nbsp; security.
“ Every sovereign state has the right to freely choose its foreign policy and & nbsp; security policy, as well as & nbsp; unions. Russia must understand and & nbsp; respect this & raquo;, & nbsp; & mdash; said in the & nbsp; answer of & nbsp; EU Representative Peter Stano.
According to & nbsp; he said, the key principles of European security are set out in the & nbsp; Helsinki Final Act and & nbsp; Charter of Paris.
“ To support them & nbsp; we have developed a range of confidence-building mechanisms. The OSCE, in addition to the NATO-Russia Council, also proposes mechanisms that remain the cornerstones of any engagement with & nbsp; Russia & nbsp; & nbsp; & mdash; the representative of the European Union emphasized.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on December 17 & nbsp; disclosed what proposals for & nbsp; security guarantees were transferred to the United States. The main ones & nbsp; them & nbsp; & mdash; this is an obligation to exclude further NATO expansion in the & nbsp; east direction, to refuse & nbsp; admission to the & nbsp; alliance of states that were previously part of the & nbsp; USSR, an obligation not & nbsp; to create military bases on & nbsp; & nbsp; territory of the states of the former USSR, but & nbsp; also mutual refusal to & nbsp; deployment of armed forces and & nbsp; ; weapons in & nbsp; areas where such a deployment would be perceived by the other side as a threat.
Officially, Washington replied that & nbsp; is discussing them & nbsp; with & nbsp; its partners in & nbsp; Europe, without & nbsp; which negotiations on security are impossible. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the & nbsp; alliance also received Russian proposals on & nbsp; security. He pointed out & nbsp; that the dialogue should take into account NATO's concerns and & nbsp; opinion of Ukraine.
Bloomberg, citing & nbsp; a senior US administration official, reported that & nbsp; the White House intends to respond to the & nbsp; Russian proposals & nbsp; next week.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that & nbsp; Russia is disappointed with the signals coming from the & nbsp; US and & nbsp; EU when & nbsp; working out the issue of & nbsp; security guarantees.
“ The signals from & nbsp; Washington and & nbsp; Brussels are extremely disappointing to us '', & nbsp; & mdash; said & nbsp; he.