Sergey Lavrov denies seeking security guarantees; 'Ukraine didn't respond to agreement'

After holding talks with Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday announced that Moscow is not in talks with any country about providing security guarantees. "We are not holding talks with anyone on this issue," Russia’s top diplomat stated, Russian news agency Tass reported.

During the press conference, Lavrov also spoke about stalled negotiations with Ukraine and stated that Kyiv has not responded to the draft of a potential negotiation agreement forwarded by Russian negotiators. He further stated that they are awaiting Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s response on the agreement since April 15.

"We held negotiations, now they have stalled because five days ago our next proposal that we handed over to Ukrainian negotiators and that was formulated taking into account their commentaries received by that time remains unanswered," Sergey Lavrov remarked.

He also responded to the Ukrainian President’s claims that he had not received Russia’s agreement and said, “It is not up to me to judge to what extent he is in control of the situation, but this is simply a characteristic of where this process called ‘negotiations’ is. But we held these negotiations with the Ukrainian side in the bilateral format up to now, and within this framework, Ukraine agreed to undertake to be a neutral, non-aligned, and nuclear-free country given that international security guarantees are provided.”

While speaking about Kyiv’s proposal to secure security guarantees from Germany, Turkey, and the United Nations Security Council. "We are not against that. The main thing is what will be the substance of these guarantees, so that they will be acceptable for Ukraine to not create threats to anyone else," the Russian Foreign Minister asserted," as reported by Tass.

What is a security guarantee?

Amid ongoing developments, President Zelenskyy is expecting to build some external security arrangements for his nation that has witnessed macabre devastation in the past two months. While bowing down to Russia’s demand, Ukraine has agreed to keep itself ‘neutral,’ and, moreover, erased the possibility of joining North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in future. However, at the same time, it is expecting world leaders to act as its ‘security guarantors,’ which essentially means that in any war-like situation against Russia, the guarantor nations will be legally obligated to support and protect Kyiv. 

A security guarantee can be defined as an implicit or explicit promise given by an outside power to protect the adversaries during the period of agreement implementation. It contains either obligation to provide assistance or a promise to not use specific weapons or other destructive instruments.

Security assurances are needed because of the mistrust that can germinate after conflicts during peace negotiations. Unless the cause of the mistrust is addressed, it will act as a support to ensure a successful peace process. Designing security guarantees might deal with these fears. It also adds stability and allows for more productive negotiations.

Image: AP