The US and Russia have concluded the consultations on security guarantees in Geneva at 16:32 local time (18:32 Moscow Time), the Bloomberg news agency said on Monday.
The end of the security talks was also reported by Reuters with the reference to the US Department of State. No information on the outcome of the meeting has been received yet.
The talks kicked off on Monday at about 11:00 Moscow Time, lasting more than 7.5 hours. The meeting took place on the territory of the US Mission to International Organizations in Geneva. During the consultations, the sides took several breaks, including lunch.
On December 17, 2021, the Russian Foreign Ministry released draft agreements on security guarantees on a part of the US and NATO.
It is too early to provide assessment to the Russia-US security talks that are currently underway in Geneva, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists Monday.
"The time for assessments will come in several hours," he said, noting that the talks are still underway. "One way or another, [Russia delegation head, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey] Ryabkov will provide his assessment once it’s over. It’s is too early to assess," the spokesman underscored.
Moscow’s position in the security guarantees talks with Washington is adamant and the United States needs to be prepared to make compromises, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Channel One.
"The United States needs to be prepared to make compromises. Russia has come here with a clear position, which contains a number of aspects that, in my view, are easy to understand and are formulated so clearly, particularly at the top level, that it is impossible to deviate from our approaches," he pointed out.
The Russian delegation includes representatives of Foreign and Defense Ministries. The US delegation is led by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. The first round of consultations in smaller membership took place on Sunday, January 9. On January 10, the talks take place in the expanded membership.
Apart from the Russia-US meeting in Geneva, the Russia-NATO Council will convene on January 12 in Brussels, and the OSCE Permanent Council will meet in Vienna on January 13. All these talks will review Russia’s proposals on security in Europe and the Atlantic. On December 17, Russian Foreign Ministry published draft agreements with the US and NATO. Under the agreements, the NATO must refuse to expand eastward - including by admission of Ukraine; the agreements also impose restrictions on deployment of serious offensive weapons, especially nuclear weapons.
