'Categorical imperative': Moscow will only accept a full NATO expansion ban
Moscow will accept nothing less but “watertight” US guarantees precluding NATO's expansion to Ukraine, a top Kremlin diplomat warned Wednesday as Russia maintains a tough posture amid the tensions over its troop buildup near Ukraine.
Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, who led the Russian delegation at the security talks with the US in Geneva last week, reaffirmed that Moscow has no intentions of invading Ukraine as the West fears, but said that receiving Western security guarantees is the categorical imperative for Moscow.
Since November, Russia has amassed an estimated 100,000 troops near Ukraine in what the West fears might herald an invasion.
In a move that further beefs up forces near Ukraine, Russia has sent an unspecified number of troops from the country’s far east to its ally Belarus, which shares a border with Ukraine, for major war games next month.
Ukrainian officials have said that Moscow could use Belarusian territory to launch a potential multi-pronged invasion.
The Russian defence ministry said Wednesday that some of its troops already have arrived in Belarus for the "Allied Resolve" 2022 drills.
It said the exercise will be held at five firing ranges and other areas in Belarus and also involve four Belarusian airbases.
Amid the soaring tensions, US state secretary Antony Blinken visited Ukraine on Wednesday to reassure it can count on Western support in the face of what he called “relentless” Russian aggression.
Russia has denied that it intends to attack its neighbour but demanded guarantees from the West that NATO will not expand to Ukraine or other former Soviet nations or place its troops and weapons there.
It also has urged NATO to roll back the deployments of its troops and weapons to Central and
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