putin: Biden-Putin talks: What Russia demanded – Times of India

NEW DELHI: United States President Joe Biden and Russia‘s Vladimir Putin held a two-hour virtual talk on Tuesday, mostly focussing on the Russian military build-up on Ukranian borders.
While the US has been warning of economic consequences if Russia invades its neighbour Ukraine, the latter has demanded for legally binding security guarantees, ruling out any eastward expansion of Nato.
Russia’s two key demands
During the talks, Russian President Putin presented Biden with a demand for legally binding security guarantees that would rule out the expansion of NATO, the Kremlin said.
Putin said Nato was bolstering its military potential near Russia’s borders and “making dangerous attempts to conquer Ukrainian territory”, the Kremlin said in a statement.
“Therefore, Russia is seriously interested in obtaining reliable, legally fixed guarantees that rule out Nato expansion eastward and the deployment of offensive strike weapons systems in states adjacent to Russia,” the Kremlin said.

President Biden, however, gave no commitments to Putin on Tuesday over any demand for a reduced US military presence in the region or blocking Ukraine from joining Nato, US officials said.
US national security advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan said the President “made no such commitments or concessions”.

Another proposal that Putin put forward during the video call with Biden was that both Moscow and Washington lift all restrictions on embassy staff, the Kremlin said.
“The Russian side proposed to annul all the accumulated restrictions on the functioning of diplomatic missions, which could also serve to normalise other aspects of bilateral relations,” the Kremlin said in the statement after the call.
Other issues discussed
There were some issues on which both the leaders were on same page like Iran and cyber security.
Kremlin said Putin and Biden both expressed satisfaction on cyber security cooperation, and pledged to continue it.
Meanwhile, Biden’s NSA Sullivan, while briefing the media after the talks, said the presidents had good discussion on Iran.
It is to be noted that the US on Tuesday itself imposed sanctions on several people and entities from Iran, apart from Syria and Uganda, accusing them of being connected to serious human rights abuses and repressive acts.