Russia will not take military action if Geneva talks fail: Kremlin
3 Min Read
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says Russia is waiting for the West's response to its demands regarding security guarantees, but it will not take military action even if its demands are ignored.
-
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a video conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, April 14, 2020
Russia is not considering military action if security talks with the United States and NATO fail. However, Moscow will be ready to take counteractions in the case that the West ignores its security concerns, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday.
"We are not speaking about military action… No one is threatening anyone with military action. This would be just madness to do that. But we will be ready to take counteractions," he told CNN in an interview.
Russia has been demanding a written commitment that Ukraine would never be able to join NATO and that the alliance would not place any military equipment in certain countries in the region surrounding Russia.
The Kremlin sees that it is best for Russian security that the alliance does not expand eastward and that Russia does not have any Western military activity in its vicinity.
Kremlin 'reluctant' on implementing Russia's demands
Peskov highlighted how NATO was reluctant when it came to promising that Ukraine would not become a party to the alliance, deploying offensive weapons in Russia's vicinity, or stopping the movement of its military infrastructure to the Russian border, calling those actions red lines.
Kremlin wants NATO to start taking Russia's concerns into account, Pekov stressed.
"We do not want to see a process for the sake of the process," he said, underscoring that the Kremlin does not want years-long negotiations. It wants to feel that their concerns are being taken into account, which Peskov said was not happening in the meantime.
Moscow's ambassador to the United States said Saturday Russia did not see any remarkable results from the Geneva security talks with the US and NATO, saying Russia would decide whether talks continue or not based on the Western response to its demands.
Russia unwavering in the face of US sanctions
In light of tensions over Ukraine, the United States has been threatening Russia with sanctions. However, the Kremlin spokesperson asserted that Russia is big and self-sufficient enough not to be worried about the sanctions.
"We've gotten used to living under American sanctions," he stressed, saying Russia was trying to take advantage of them in terms of developing the domestic economy and production, in addition to compensating the deficit of certain import parts and elements by producing their own.
"It gives a boost to our national economy ... We're quite big and we're quite self-sufficient to be fragile against these sanctions," Peskov highlighted.
However, despite Russia overcoming the sanctions, any US-proposed restrictions, which include personal sanctions against the leadership of Russia, could "lead to the discontinuation of any relationship by our two countries," Peskov said.
Peskov had previously said the US threats of further sanctions against Russia were a form of artillery practice ahead of negotiations on security guarantees.
The tensions come in light of the US and NATO alleging that Russia is preparing a military buildup on its shared borders with Ukraine, which they claim amounts to 100,000 Russian troops.
Russia has long denied these allegations, underscoring that its actions were simply to uphold its security.
