Ambassador notes militarization of Kiev proves Russia needs security guarantees – world

BERLIN, December 29. / TASS /. Russian Ambassador to Berlin Sergei Nechaev believes the discussion of arms deliveries to Ukraine illustrates the need for Russia’s security guarantees, the diplomat said in an interview with the news agency on Wednesday. DPA.

“In our opinion, the militarization of Ukraine is absolutely harmful and inappropriate,” Nechaev noted, adding that “all measures in this direction will be counterproductive”. “These considerations [about the possibility of supplying arms to Kiev] serve as further proof that Russia needs security guarantees and we demand that these security guarantees be enshrined in international law “, underlined the diplomat.

During the summer, Robert Habeck, co-leader of the German party Alliance 90 / The Greens, spoke out in favor of sending defensive weapons to Kiev, thus contradicting the party’s electoral program, which limited the export European weapons “to areas where there is a war going on.” Heiko Maas, then German Foreign Minister, said this would not help resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Last week, the future CDU president Friedrich Merz announced that Ukraine’s demands for such weapons were “undoubtedly legitimate given the massive build-up of the Russian army on its eastern border”.

On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry released two draft documents on ensuring legal certainty guarantees from the United States and NATO. Previously, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on NATO to start substantive negotiations in order to provide Russia with reliable and long-term security guarantees. The head of state specified that Russia needs legal guarantees, the promises previously made by his Western colleagues not having been kept. As Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, Presidential aide Yury Ushakov told White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan that Moscow was ready to immediately start negotiations on the draft documents concerning security guarantees. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov will represent Russia in the negotiations on this subject.