The Geneva Talks: The US-Russia Conflict

Why in news?

The Geneva talks that was held recently between the United States and Russia were inconclusive.

What is the issue?

• Ukraine crisis- Russia has mounted troops near Ukraine's border.
• It has demanded the U.S.-led NATO alliance rule out admitting the former Soviet state or expanding further into what Moscow sees as its back yard.
• The U.S. accuses that Russia could be preparing a new invasion, eight years after it seized the Crimean peninsula from its neighbour.
• Russia denies any such plans and says it is responding to the aggressive behaviour from the NATO and Ukraine which has tilted toward the West.
• Expansion of NATO- Russia repeated a set of demands including a ban on further NATO expansion and an end to its activity in the central and eastern European countries that joined after 1997.
• Russia responded militarily in 2008 when Georgia was considering joining NATO.
• INF treaty-Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) is a nuclear arms-control accord reached by the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1987.
• The two countries agreed to eliminate their stocks of intermediate  and shorter-range (between 500 and 5,500 km) land based missiles which could carry nuclear warheads.
• The United States formally withdrew from the INF pact in August 2019 after determining that Moscow was violating the treaty.
• The U.S. is now open to discuss a possible deal on INF missiles along the lines of the now-defunct INF treaty and Russia's proposal to set limits on the size and scope of military exercises.

The NATO was created in 1949 by the U.S, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.

It is a political and military alliance comprising of 30 member countries.

Under the treaty, collective defense was promulgated in which an attack against one is considered as an attack against all.

To know more about the first Biden-Putin Summit in Geneva, click here

What is the status of the recent Geneva talks?

• The U.S. has publicly said that it will not shut NATO’s door on potential future members against the Russia’s demand of banning the NATO.
• Any aggression against Ukraine might serve Russia’s tactical interests but could deal a deadly blow to any plan to bring the Russia-Europe ties back on track.
• Finding a solution to the crisis depends on whether both sides are able to get out of their Cold War mentality and build mutual confidence in bilateral relations.

References

1. https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/talking-to-russia/article38262893.ece
2. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/prospects-dim-us-russia-start-tense-talks-over-ukraine-crisis-2022-01-10/
3. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/nato