Senior Russian Foreign Ministry diplomat Alexey Drobinin outlined three possible ways to organize Europe’s security, including non-aggression pacts with individual NATO member states, as Russia-Ukraine talks resumed this week.
At a security conference in Moscow, Drobinin described a collective defense alliance or mutual-assistance agreements, citing Russia’s arrangements with Belarus and North Korea. He also raised agreements under which countries would avoid helping one another’s adversaries during aggression, pointing to Russia’s pact with Iran.
His third option was bilateral non-aggression agreements. Drobinin said individual NATO member states could receive “additional individual security guarantees” from Russia under such a deal, according to video of his remarks posted online.
The latest Russia-Ukraine talks opened in Abu Dhabi this week, the first round since February, Reuters reported. Medinsky said the framework question dominated the Abu Dhabi talks, but did not describe what the negotiators discussed, Reuters reported.
Some European politicians want progress on Ukraine, including a ceasefire, before governments address the continent’s broader security arrangements, Reuters reported. U.S. officials are open to discussing the wider issue, according to Reuters.
