The key facts

  • Drobinin named three options: a collective defense alliance, political non-interference agreements, and bilateral non-aggression pacts
  • Medinsky confirmed that a new European security system was one of the main topics of the two-day talks in Abu Dhabi
  • According to participants, no compromise was reached on territorial issues

Three possible formats of agreements

A senior Russian diplomat said that Moscow, as part of the new European security architecture being discussed in the talks on Ukraine, could conclude non-aggression pacts with NATO states. This was reported by Kun.uz citing the Reuters agency. The remarks by Alexey Drobinin, a diplomat at Russia's Foreign Ministry, came after meetings in Abu Dhabi, where, according to him, several options for resolving security issues were considered.

What exactly Moscow proposed

The first option is a collective defense alliance or bilateral mutual assistance agreements, similar to Russia's treaties with Belarus and North Korea. The second is political agreements under which, in the event of aggression, the parties do not assist each other's adversaries; Drobinin cited the pact between Moscow and Tehran as an example. The third format is bilateral non-aggression pacts. 'For example, agreements of this kind can be concluded, in particular, with individual NATO member states, so that they would subsequently receive additional individual security guarantees from Russia,' Kun.uz quoted him as saying.

Talks in Abu Dhabi and unresolved issues

Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian negotiating delegation, confirmed that the idea of a new European security system was one of the main topics of the two-day talks in Abu Dhabi, but did not specify what exactly was discussed within it. According to Reuters, some European politicians oppose any negotiations on a pan-European security architecture until the war in Ukraine is over, whereas Washington has openly stated its readiness to discuss these issues as part of talks on ending hostilities. Participants in the meetings noted that no compromise was reached on territorial issues: Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, refused to answer whether Russia continues to demand the transfer of Donbas, while Medinsky again stated that Russia will, one way or another, obtain the territories it needs.