US-Russia security talks end without any deal

GENEVA: A new round of security talks between the United States and Russia concluded Monday evening in Geneva without yielding any diplomatic breakthrough.

While the US side called the latest talks between the two major global powers “our diplomacy in pursuit of a de-escalation with Russia,” the Russian side called the talks US-Russia “security guarantees negotiations.”

Like the two previous bilateral USRussia Strategic Stability Dialogues in Geneva last year, the US delegation is headed by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, while the Russian side is headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

“The talks were difficult, long, very professional, deep, concrete, without attempts to gloss over some sharp edges,” Ryabkov told a press briefing after the talks. “We had the feeling that the American side took the Russian proposals very seriously and studied them deeply.”

Sherman told a separate press briefing after the talks that “we had a frank and forthright discussion over the course of nearly eight hours at the US Mission in Geneva.

This is the third time the USRussia Strategic Stability Dialogue has convened since President Biden and President Putin met in Geneva last June.”

Ryabkov was cited by the Russian Mission in Geneva on Monday that what Russia seeks is legally binding guarantees of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) not to expand further to the East.

“It should dismantle everything it has created while driven by antiRussia phobias and delusional perceptions about our country’s policies since 1997,” he was cited as saying.

Ryabkov told reporters after the talks that “the main questions are still up in the air, and we don’t see an understanding from the American side of the necessity of a decision in a way that satisfies us.”

“We do not trust the other side,” he stated. “We need ironclad, waterproof, bulletproof, legally binding guarantees — not assurances, not safeguards.”

He said that he has told his US counterpart that Russia has no plans to attack Ukraine, and there was no reason to fear an escalation of tensions with Ukraine.

“Certain threats or warnings were put forward. We explained to our colleagues that we have no plans to attack Ukraine,” Ryabkov said. “There is no basis for fearing any escalated scenario in this regard.”

Sherman told reporters that the United States came to Monday’s meeting to hear Russia’s security concerns and to share its own, “We came with a number of ideas where our two countries could take reciprocal actions that would be in our security interests and improve strategic stability.”

The senior US diplomat said that the US will not stop NATO’s “Open Door” policy, it will not forego bilateral cooperation with sovereign states that wish to work with the United States, and it will not make decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine, about Europe without Europe, or about NATO without NATO.

“We’ve made it clear that if Russia further invades Ukraine, there will be significant costs and consequences well beyond what they faced in 2014. Russia has a stark choice to make,” she said.

She also said that the United States offered to meet again soon with Russian officials to discuss these bilateral issues in more detail.

STRASBOURG: The president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, died early Tuesday in hospital in Italy, his spokesman said on Twitter.

The 65-year-old Italian had been seriously ill in hospital for more than two weeks due to a dysfunction of his immune system.

“David Sassoli passed away at 1.15 a.m. on January 11 at the CRO in Aviano, Italy, where he was hospitalized,” his spokesman Roberto Cuillo tweeted.

“The date and place of the funeral will be communicated in the next few hours.”

The former television newsreader had been in hospital since December 26 due to “a serious complication due to a dysfunction of the immune system,” Cuillo had said on Monday, announcing the cancellation of Sassoli’s official activities.

Sassoli was previously admitted with pneumonia for several weeks last September.

The European Parliament sits for a five-year term between elections, but the president of the body serves for half that time.

Sassoli had already indicated that he would not seek re-election.

He was born on May 30, 1956, in Florence, Italy.

After a three-decade career as an Italian journalist, starting out in newspapers, then moving to television and becoming a nationally known anchor, Sassoli became a member of the European Parliament in 2009, and speaker in 2019.

He was a member of the center-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the second-biggest grouping in the parliament after the center-right European People’s Party.

Although his role was that of the speaker, he had the title of president of the European legislature.

His arrival in the chamber was traditionally announced in Italian as “Il Presidente.”

Unlike some EU officials, who speak in English and French in public appearances, Sassoli had made a point of using Italian.

On Tuesday next week, MEPs are expected to hold the first round of voting for his successor.