Russia-NATO dialogue exposes lots of differences on key issues — senior diplomat

TASS

BRUSSELS, January 12. /TASS/. A meeting of the Russia-NATO Council exposed a large number of differences on key issues, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told a news conference on Wednesday.

“The conversation was rather sincere, direct, in-depth and busy, but at the same time it revealed a large number of differences on fundamental issues,” the senior diplomat said. “And one of the key issues is that NATO understands selectively the principle of the indivisibility of security. In the eyes of NATO, it exists only for the members of the Alliance, and in its practical activity NATO is not going to take into regard the security interests of the others,” Grushko said.

“For today, we don’t have a unifying positive agenda, none whatsoever,” he stressed.

The talks at the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels marked the second stage of consultations between Russia and Western countries on Russia’s proposals on European security. The meeting is a follow-up of the negotiations between Russia and the United States held in Geneva on January 10. Also, a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council will take place in Vienna on January 13.

The Russian delegation in Brussels was led by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko and Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin. On NATO’s behalf, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and permanent representatives of the alliance’s 30 member states took part in the Brussels talks.

I’d previously mentioned the status quo was likely to be maintained. So far that looks to be the case.

NATO, Russia, Ukraine: What’s really going on?