The Treaty on Security Guarantees that Russia Proposed to the U.S.
In December 2021, Russia proposed a draft treaty to the United States and a similar one to NATO, as a way of reaching security guarantees for both parties. Russia made its proposal public to bring the U.S. to the bargaining table.
The preamble of the draft treaty cites principles and articles of no fewer than nine existing treaties which the U.S. is already a party to, including the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, as precedents to the operative articles proposed.
U.S. actions to heighten tensions in Europe, war exercises of unprecedented scale by U.S. and NATO forces, forward placement of rapid deployment forces and sending lethal weapons to Ukraine which end up in the hands of neo-Nazi forces are all in flagrant violation of these treaties and the rule of law.
Below are the operative articles of the draft treaty as posted by the Foreign Ministry of Russia. The written response provided by the U.S. on January 26, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, ignored all "fundamental Russian concerns."
Article 1. The Parties shall cooperate on the basis of principles of indivisible, equal and undiminished security and to these ends:
i) shall not undertake actions nor participate in or support activities that affect the security of the other Party;
ii) shall not implement security measures adopted by each Party individually or in the framework of an international organization, military alliance or coalition that could undermine core security interests of the other Party.
Article 2. The Parties shall seek to ensure that all international organizations, military alliances and coalitions in which at least one of the Parties is taking part adhere to the principles contained in the Charter of the United Nations.
Article 3. The Parties shall not use the territories of other States with a view to preparing or carrying out an armed attack against the other Party or other actions affecting core security interests of the other Party.
Article 4. The United States of America shall undertake to prevent further eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and deny accession to the Alliance to the States of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The United States of America shall not establish military bases in the territory of the States of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that are not members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, use their infrastructure for any military activities or develop bilateral military cooperation with them.
Article 5. The Parties shall refrain from deploying their armed forces and armaments, including in the framework of international organizations, military alliances or coalitions, in the areas where such deployment could be perceived by the other Party as a threat to its national security, with the exception of such deployment within the national territories of the Parties.
The Parties shall refrain from flying heavy bombers equipped for nuclear or non-nuclear armaments or deploying surface warships of any type, including in the framework of international organizations, military alliances or coalitions, in the areas outside national airspace and national territorial waters respectively, from where they can attack targets in the territory of the other Party.
The Parties shall maintain dialogue and cooperate to improve mechanisms to prevent dangerous military activities on and over the high seas, including agreeing on the maximum approach distance between warships and aircraft.
Article 6. The Parties shall undertake not to deploy ground-launched intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles outside their national territories, as well as in the areas of their national territories, from which such weapons can attack targets in the national territory of the other Party.
Article 7. The Parties shall refrain from deploying nuclear weapons outside their national territories and return such weapons already deployed outside their national territories at the time of the entry into force of the Treaty to their national territories. The Parties shall eliminate all existing infrastructure for deployment of nuclear weapons outside their national territories.
The Parties shall not train military and civilian personnel from non-nuclear countries to use nuclear weapons. The Parties shall not conduct exercises or training for general-purpose forces that include scenarios involving the use of nuclear weapons.
Article 8. The Treaty shall enter into force from the date of receipt of the last written notification on the completion by the Parties of their domestic procedures necessary for its entry into force.
U.S. Response
On January 26, the U.S. provided written responses to Russia regarding its proposals for binding security arrangements. NATO did the same to similar proposals made by Russia in a separate document.
At a press briefing making the announcement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. position again makes clear "that there are core principles that we are committed to uphold and defend -- including Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and the right of states to choose their own security arrangements and alliances."
He didn't say these so-called "core principles" such as "the right of states to choose their own security arrangements and alliances" are cherry-picked out of context from existing treaties whose overriding principle is that all states that are party to these agreements should "not strengthen their security at the expense of the security of other states." Both the U.S. and NATO disregard the essence of these treaties while painting Russia as the aggressor.
Blinken would not make public the details of the response issued on January 26. He made some general statements about a willingness to discuss military "force posture" in Ukraine and give assurances about U.S. and NATO military exercises in Europe. He also said he saw potential for discussing missile arms control in Europe. But, unlike Russia, the U.S. did not make its positions public.
"We're not releasing the document publicly" Secretary Blinken said "because we think that diplomacy has the best chance to succeed if we provide space for confidential talks. We hope and expect that Russia will have the same view and will take our proposals seriously."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has confirmed that Russia won't publish a U.S. response on security guarantees, but will disclose the general meaning of the replies.
This article was published in
Volume 52 Number 6 - June 5, 2022
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2022/Articles/M5200619.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca