ST. PETERSBURG (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th January, 2022) Various state- and non-state actors seize the Russian-US security guarantee talks as an opportunity to fan anti-Russian sentiment in media in an attempt to score political points and undermine the negotiations, international political experts told Sputnik on Wednesday.
The United States and Russia are currently negotiating a new security framework in Europe, with a special emphasis on the situation in Ukraine. Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Geneva to discuss the matter. Washington privately provided its written response to Russia's security proposals earlier in the day, saying it expects reciprocal privacy from Moscow.
"Propagandists, all kinds of journalists, second- and third-rate political scientists and even politicians are trying to engage in speculation regarding the outcome of the talks. There is a lot of false propaganda and other things around these negotiations, partly in order to influence the negotiations, as they think that by doing so they will be able to influence or justify the outcome of the negotiations or score political points," Yakov Kedmi, a former diplomat and retired high-ranking Israeli intelligence official, said.
Meanwhile, Russia stands accused of building up troops near the Ukrainian border and allegedly preparing for an invasion, which Moscow has repeatedly denied.
Thierry Mariani, an EU lawmaker from France, said he did not see how Russia could benefit from the alleged invasion of the neighboring country. The lawmaker called these allegations "groundless."
Kedmi, for his part, stressed that the US administration, despite the controversial rhetoric on all levels, was also taking the negotiations with Moscow very seriously.
"The United States is conducting these talks in a serious manner and is taking them as seriously as never before. At the last meeting between Lavrov and Blinken they agreed to come up with an answer by the end of the week," the expert said.
In December, Russia presented draft proposals on security guarantees in Europe to the United States and NATO. On January 10, Russia and the US held a round of the strategic stability dialogue in Geneva, followed by the first NATO-Russia Council since 2019 in Brussels on January 12 and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe talks in Vienna the next day. Russia-Ukraine relations were high on the agenda during talks.
Moscow's proposals include preventing NATO from expanding in Eastern Europe and prohibiting the US and Russia from deploying intermediate and shorter-range missiles within striking distance of each other's territory, among other terms.
