Medvedev Blames West For Breaching Guarantees, Says Negotiations Are Best Way Forward

Russian news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti run comments from Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, former President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on security negotiations with the West.

• Medvedev accuses NATO of breaching the promise not to expand eastwards after the collapse of the USSR. He suggests that political changes in Ukraine represent expansion of Western influence towards the Russian border, which Moscow perceives as a geopolitical threat.
• The Deputy Chairman of Russia's Security Council notes that the list of demands handed to the U.S. and its allies is not "rigid" but it is "very specific and definite." He says that a refusal by the U.S. to give clear security guarantees would "complicate the overall situation."
• Medvedev says negotiations on security guarantees are the only way forward, as "everything must be done so that there is no war." He blames unspecified actors for warmongering and escalating the tension over Ukraine for political or financial gain.
• The official notes that Russia is opposed to not only Ukraine's membership in NATO but also to the shipment of troops and weapons into Ukraine by individual Western nations.