Moscow: Russia said on Sunday (Jan 30) it wants “mutually respectful” relations with the United States and denied posing a threat to Ukraine, as the UK said it was preparing fresh sanctions against Moscow.
Tensions have soared between Moscow and Washington after Western governments accused Russia of amassing tens of thousands of troops on its border with ex-Soviet Ukraine.
The military build-up has sparked fears that Russia is planning an invasion, spooking NATO and its members in the region and prompting the Western alliance to explore bolstering its own deployments there.
“We want good, equal, mutually respectful relations with the United States, like with every country in the world,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian TV on Sunday.
He added, however, that Russia doesn’t want to remain in a position “where our security is infringed daily”.
Citing the encroachment of NATO near its eastern border, Russia has put forward security demands to Washington and the US-led military alliance.
These include a guarantee that NATO will not admit new members, in particular Ukraine, and the United States will not establish new military bases in ex-Soviet countries.
Russia has also demanded a pullback of NATO forces deployed to eastern European and ex-Soviet countries that joined the alliance after the Cold War
Lavrov said that NATO’s line of defence “continues moving eastwards” and has come “very close” to Ukraine, which according to him, is “not ready” to joint NATO.
Western leaders have scrambled to diffuse the crisis by reaching out to Russian President Vladimir Putin, while also vowing unprecedented sanctions should Moscow launch an attack.
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