Lavrov Calls for Common Security Architecture

Where one side sees an opening for possibly something different, in the potentials opened up by the agreement negotiated in Minsk this week, the other side sees more of the same. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Thursday called on the West to seriously discuss ways of building a common Euro-Atlantic security architecture, despite U.S. pretensions to rule the world.

“Our opinion causes discontent of those who demonstrate obsession with the idea of their own exclusiveness, despite the objective tendencies of the emerging multi-polar world,”

he said, reports TASS.

“The recent edition of the United States’ national security strategy emphasizes that Washington must rule all and everywhere relying on its available tools—from economic sanctions to force pressure. It reiterates the United States’ preparedness for unilateral use of military force.”

The Obama Administration, meanwhile, has already decided in advance that if the Minsk agreement falls apart, it will be Russia’s fault.

“The true test of today’s accord will be in its full and unambiguous implementation, including the durable end of hostilities and the restoration of Ukrainian control over its border with Russia,”

according to a White House statement yesterday.

“This agreement must now be followed by immediate, concrete steps to fulfill the commitments by all parties. The ceasefire must be implemented and honored. Heavy weapons must be withdrawn from the conflict zone, and Russia must end its support for the separatists and withdraw its soldiers and military equipment from eastern Ukraine,”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest added.

The view in the European Union is apparently not that much different, with the notable exception of French President François Hollande. “If there are difficulties, I don’t exclude additional sanctions,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after an EU summit in Brussels yesterday. Hollande actually opened up the possibility of ending the sanctions.

“It is clear that if everything falls into place, then measures will be taken at the European level to ease sanctions,” he said. “France would be part of such a process [referring, at least in part, to the delivery of the two Mistral warships], but for the moment we are not there yet,” he added.