On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry released a draft agreement on security assurances between Russia and the United States. The text consists of eight provisions that cover the most important issues of mutual security guarantees between Moscow and Washington.
The document echoes Moscow’s previous statements and proposes a solution to the accumulating difficulties and threats, particularly those that arose after the United States withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
To begin with, the text lays out the ideas of indivisible and equal security, as well as non-threats to one another’s security. In this regard, the paper specifies the following points: rejection of acts and events that jeopardize the security of the opposite side, non-participation in such events, and refusal to support them. Furthermore, the proposed agreement states that any security actions – whether taken individually or as part of an international organization, military alliance, or coalition – that could jeopardize the other side’s basic security interests will be rejected. NATO’s expansion to the east
“The United States of America shall take measures to prevent the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from expanding eastward and deny former Soviet nations membership in the Alliance,” the treaty states.
Furthermore, the Russian draft adds that the US is prohibited from establishing military bases in former Soviet republics that are not NATO members, from using their infrastructure for military purposes, and from developing bilateral military cooperation with them.
According to the document, the parties will not use the territory of other nations to plan or carry out an armed attack against each other, or any other actions that would jeopardize the other side’s basic security interests. Weapons and forces deployment
Except for deployment on one’s own national territory, Moscow offers Washington to refrain from deploying its armed forces and weapons in regions where such deployment could be viewed as a threat to the other side’s security, including within international organizations, military alliances, and coalitions.
