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NATO considers Russia’s security offer to end Ukraine standoff

BRUSSELS – NATO foreign ministers on Friday discussed Russia’s military build-up around Ukraine amid doubts about the credibility of President Vladimir Putin’s offer to de-escalate tensions, ahead of a week of diplomacy. high-level to end the deadlock.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterparts held virtual talks in preparation for the first meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in more than two years.

Wednesday’s meeting in Brussels will give NATO ambassadors the opportunity to discuss Putin’s security proposals face-to-face with the Russian envoy.

It is part of a series of meetings involving NATO, senior US and Russian officials as well as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to be held next week.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said it was important to talk to Russia about its concerns and that he would speak again with Putin “in the coming days.”

“Dialogue does not mean concessions,” Macron told reporters in Paris at an event marking the start of France’s six-month term as leader of the European Union.

Many of the documents Moscow has made public – a draft agreement with NATO countries and a proposal to sign a treaty between Russia and the US – do not appear to be the beginning of the 30-nation military organization, despite concerns. that Putin could order an invasion of Ukraine.

NATO would have to agree to halt all membership plans, not just Ukraine, and stop military exercises near Russia’s borders.

In return, Russia will honor the international commitments it has signed to limit wars and end incidents of howling planes and other low-level hostilities.

Endorsing such an agreement would require NATO to reject a substantial part of its founding treaty. Under Article 10 of the 1949 Washington Treaty, the organization could invite any willing European country that could contribute to security in the North Atlantic region, as well as fulfill its membership obligations.

Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014 and later supported a separatist insurgency in the east of the country. Over seven years, the fighting has killed more than 14,000 people and devastated Ukraine’s industrial heartland, known as the Donbas.

Russia denies that it has new plans to attack its neighbour, but Putin wants legal guarantees to rule out NATO expansion and weapons deployment. Moscow said it expected answers to its security proposals this month.

The NATO-Russia Council was established two decades ago. But NATO ended cooperation with Russia through the NRC in 2014 after it annexed Crimea.

Wednesday’s meeting will be the first since July 2019. NATO officials said Russia has refused to participate in the meetings as long as Ukraine is on the agenda.

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AP writers Samuel Petrequin and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

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