The European Union’s (EU) foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, described Russia’s demands for security guarantees and a halt to the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union to the east as a “purely Russian agenda on totally unacceptable terms.”
“Demanding security guarantees and an end to the eastward expansion of the European Union and NATO is a purely Russian agenda on totally unacceptable terms, especially with regard to Ukraine,” Borrell said in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt.
According to him, Moscow “presented its agenda in a written (paper) manner for the first time,” which had not happened before.
“Only the winners do it: they say this and that are my terms,” Borrell said.
Borrell noted that the negotiations should not only concern Ukraine and NATO’s eastward expansion but also “all treaty violations since the adoption of the Final Helsinki Agreement in 1975.”
“We disagree with many developments in Russian foreign policy, as well as with some events that Moscow considers internal affairs,” Borrell added.
He also accused Moscow of ” a desire to negotiate a European security architecture without the participation of the European Union.”
According to him, negotiations on the European security architecture and security guarantees are “an issue that concerns not only the United States of America (USA) and Russia”.
He continued to say that the European Union must be present in these negotiations.
He stressed that these negotiations will only make sense if they are implemented in close coordination with the European Union and with its participation.”
As Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly emphasized, NATO’s eastward expansion and offensive weapons deployment in Ukraine are Moscow’s red lines.
