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The French newspaper “Le Figaro” said that the fate of Ukraine and the security of the European continent is at stake in the face of the Russian invasion, which puts American diplomacy in a dilemma between firmness and retreat, in the series of talks held this week between Moscow and Washington to reduce escalation and redefine Russia’s relationship with NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), especially since firmness could lead to a military escalation with dire consequences, and a retreat would tarnish NATO’s reputation and American security guarantees, and thus the Americans have only limited room for maneuver.
And the newspaper pointed out – in a report by its correspondent Adrian Golems – that US President Joe Biden ruled out the deployment of US forces in Ukraine, but threatened his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to impose exceptionally harsh sanctions if he embarked on a military adventure.
The reporter noted that US diplomats privately admit that such sanctions have not prevented either the 2014 annexation of Crimea, the de facto separation of the Donbass region from Ukraine, Russian cyberattacks, or Moscow’s attempts to assassinate its opponents abroad.
He stated that a series of talks will take place with Russia this week, starting with a bilateral summit between the Americans and Russians in Geneva on Monday, followed by an extraordinary meeting of NATO with Russia in Brussels next Wednesday, and then the meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna next Thursday.
no concessions
But the hopes of reaching an agreement are slim, as US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken admitted, as he said, “I don’t think we will see any progress in the next week,” because the Geneva talks seem difficult from the beginning, especially since neither the American delegation, headed by Wendy Sherman, Deputy Secretary of State, Neither the Russian delegation, headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, showed any intention to make any concessions, but rather, the levels of mistrust appear to be higher than at any time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to the newspaper.
Russia has already announced its demands – as the newspaper says – and asked, as a precondition for negotiations, that NATO commit not to expand to the east, and to withdraw American forces and weapons deployed in many NATO member states, but the United States and the alliance states say that these are unrealistic demands, and that Moscow deliberately put them forward To divert attention from the real issues and to divide allies.
The Russians, Blinken said, “want to drag us into the NATO discussion instead of focusing on the issue at hand, which is their aggression against Ukraine. We will not allow that, because what is happening in Ukraine is not only about this country, but is part of a destabilizing, dangerous and illegal behavior on the part of Moscow.” It attempts to build a sphere of influence by absorbing the countries that were under Soviet rule and preventing them from achieving their democratic aspirations as independent and fully sovereign states.
other files
US officials have cited other topics the United States is preparing to discuss if Russia agrees to abandon its military buildup against Ukraine, such as limiting offensive missile deployments in Ukraine and limiting military exercises in Eastern Europe by the United States and NATO.
“As President Biden told President Putin, the United States has no plans to deploy offensive weapons in Ukraine, so this is an area where we can reach an agreement if Russia is willing to make a mutual commitment,” the reporter quoted a senior State Department official as saying.
On the other hand, the United States and NATO categorically rejected the veto demanded by Moscow regarding the addition of a new member to the alliance, and the senior official said, “It is not for Russia to decide instead of other countries that we can ally with,” these decisions belong to those countries and swear. We – in the context of NATO – are talking about “the open door, and neither Russia nor any other country will close it.”
The newspaper concluded that American negotiators hope to address some issues with Russia behind closed doors, which is a source of apprehension for Washington’s allies that Washington will deal directly with Moscow without informing its partners.
However, the reporter quoted a senior US official as saying that “no commitment will be made during these talks, which will be exploratory, and that everything that is discussed should return to Washington for consideration, and be taken up with partners and allies later in the week.”
