Russian-US negotiations in Geneva came to a sudden halt. Undersecretary of State and head of the US delegation Wendy Sherman (see photo) was authorized by President Biden to discuss exclusively the deployment of US missiles in Ukraine and the presence of Russian troops on the Russian border with Ukrainian.

Russia had dispatched its deputy foreign minister, Sergey Riabkov, to hammer out the Russian proposal for a bilateral treaty on peace guarantees [1] recently issued by President Vladimir Putin. The proposal aims at affirming both countries’ respect for both the United Nations Charter and for the given word, which would entail, inter alia, the transformation of NATO or its dissolution [2].

Concurrently in Washington, the House of Representatives was deliberating on a bill designed to ensure Ukraine’s autonomy by strengthening its defense capabilities (Guaranteeing Ukrainian Autonomy by Reinforcing its Defense Act – GUARD). This involves reimposing sanctions on German firms involved in the Nord Stream 2 project, subsidizing the Ukrainian military to the tune of an additional $ 200 million and putting President Vladimir Putin on the list of supporters of terrorism. In the Senate, they were discussing another text aimed at proclaiming NATO’s right to expand indefinitely.

[1Draft Treaty betweeen the USA and Russia on Security Guarantees”, Voltaire Network, 17 December 2021.

[2Russia wants to force the US to respect the UN Charter”, by Thierry Meyssan, Translation Roger Lagassé, Voltaire Network, 4 January 2022.