Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba said on Friday (December 3) that Ukraine refuses to make any efforts to make it join NATO and Russia seeks any “guarantee” to ease tensions on the border.
The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia and the United States have a tentative date and time for a conference call between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden in the next few days, but Moscow is awaiting final approval from Washington.
Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said Putin plans to tell Biden a security proposal that will prevent NATO military alliances from expanding eastward and threaten to deploy weapons to Russia’s neighbors, including Ukraine.
After most of Eastern Europe joined NATO after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow hopes to see the end of NATO’s eastward expansion.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called on US Foreign Minister Anthony Brinken on Thursday to provide “security guarantees” to ensure that NATO will not approach the Russian border.
Ukraine’s leaders seem to worry about a “Yalta-style” agreement between the two superpowers, which would limit their sovereignty. In February 1945, Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill met in Yalta, a resort city on the Black Sea, and decided the partition of Europe after the war.
Kuleba told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of the OSCE meeting in Stockholm that agreeing to abandon the plan to join the alliance was “not an option” for Kiev.
“I am opposed to the idea that we must guarantee anything to Russia. I insist that Russia must guarantee that it will not continue to invade any country,” he said.
NATO officially opened the door for Ukraine to join in 2008, but no progress has been made since.
“It is absolutely inappropriate for Russia to exert any influence on the decisions of another sovereign country Ukraine and another international organization NATO,” Kuleba added.
He urged the United States and its allies to reject Moscow’s request.
“We have a golden rule in Ukrainian diplomacy: Without Ukraine, there would be no decision about Ukraine. Therefore, if someone, even our closest friend, decides anything related to Ukraine behind the scenes, we will not recognize this. Decide.”
