MOSCOW. Oct 26 (Interfax) - The United States will not accept Russia's new proposals made by its President Vladimir Putin regarding efforts to defuse the situation in Europe after the termination of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, according to Army Gen. Yury Baluyevsky, who was chief of the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff in 2004-2008.
"In my view, today's initiatives of our president are another attempt to try and explain to the U.S.: we, Russia, have gone our part of this journey. Washington is being offered a number of constructive measures. But I am convinced, the U.S. will refuse. Or, set conditions that we, by and large, due to certain circumstances, will definitely not accept," Baluyevsky told Interfax on Monday.
The gap between the two countries on global security has become too wide, he said.
"We have gone too far apart. And this did not happen yesterday, or before yesterday. We parted very far apart and today we are not even following parallel tracks, but, to put mildly, are walking in different directions on these issues," he said.
This degradation of the relationship is clearly illustrated by the main strategic documentation the U.S. military-political leadership has relied on since 2000, he said.
"Whereas in 2001 the texts said Russia could become a partner for the U.S., that Russia, China and India were among great powers, after 2007 it was made clear: Moscow was a potential adversary. In 2010 - 2012 we were showed a 'carrot' again, Russia's loyalty towards the U.S. position having been noted, but then the directions of our approaches to ensuring strategic stability diverged drastically," Baluyevsky said.
The Russian presidential statement published earlier on additional steps towards de-escalation in Europe in light of the termination of the INF treaty, says in particular that Russia will not deploy new intermediate- and shorter-range missiles until the U.S. refuses to deploy such weapons in Europe. The U.S. and NATO are also being offered to agree on verification measures for the U.S. anti-ballistic missile shield in Europe and Russia's cruise missiles near Kaliningrad.