US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Tuesday that President Joe Biden has long argued that the concept of spheres of influence should be dumped in the dustbin of history and will remain with that sentence, referring to Russia’s “security guarantees” proposals.
“The president has made clear for many years the fundamental principles that cannot be broken: that one country cannot impose the borders of another, or that one country cannot dictate the policies of other countries, or who it can relate to. “The state It has no right to its sphere of influence, and the concept itself should be thrown into the dustbin of history.”
In this way, the head of US diplomacy referred to the proposals published by the Russian Foreign Ministry on, inter alia: excluding Ukraine from NATO membership and ensuring the non-deployment of troops to Russia’s neighbors.
Blinken stressed, however, that although some of the proposals are clearly unacceptable to the United States, Washington is ready to start talks with Russia through various channels. He did not answer the question directly whether the next conversation between the US and Russian presidents was also at stake. The diplomat noted that, just as Russia has a list of complaints against NATO, the United States and its European allies also have complaints about Russia’s behaviour.
Commenting on the chances of averting a Russian invasion of Ukraine in the face of increasingly aggressive rhetoric from the Kremlin, including accusations from the United States of planning a chemical attack, Blinken said the United States is now pursuing a parallel policy of diplomacy and deterrence.
“These two things go hand in hand,” Blinken recalls. “In Geneva, President Biden told President Putin that he preferred a stable and predictable relationship with Russia, but that if Russia continued its irresponsible aggressive actions, it would face a definite response.”
The diplomat also referred to negotiations to return to the nuclear agreement with Iran (JCPOA). Blinken admitted that with the progress of Iran’s nuclear program and protracted talks, there was “little time” left to salvage the deal. This situation has been blamed – along with Iran – on the previous administration in Washington and President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the agreement.
“We are where we are now because of what I consider one of the worst foreign policy decisions of the last decade,” Blinken said.
From Washington, Oscar Gorzinski
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