BOISE, Idaho – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on Russia’s “draft security treaty” for the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO):
“The Russian government’s publication of “proposals” for the United States and NATO is an insult to diplomacy and seeks to extort us into ending a crisis Russia itself created. These are not security agreements, but a list of concessions the United States and NATO must make to appease Putin.
“The Russian Federation made these demands with the full understanding they are impossible to accept. These demands are contrary to not only the principles and spirit of the NATO treaty, but also the specific text of the agreement adopted by all 30 sovereign NATO countries. Russia is clearly trying to create a pretext for war. Putin knows the United States and our 29 NATO allies do not, and will not, negotiate away the future of sovereign nations, like Ukraine, that must be able to make their own choices.
“The Biden Administration and all our NATO allies must quickly and unequivocally reject the demands listed in this proposal. We should also be prepared for Putin to use our rejection of these coercive demands as an excuse for using military force in order to take what is not his. It is clear – Congress and the administration must act before, not after, Russia escalates further and make it clear this dangerous extortion and blackmail will not be tolerated.”
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