“I think at this point people feel that both the allies and the Russians, including the United States, are all committed to dialogue right now,” she told DailyExpertNews’s Alex Marquardt in an exclusive interview from NATO headquarters. In Brussels.
“All allies are determined to start a dialogue with Russia tomorrow. But at the same time, the allies are all united in their message to the Russians that if they decided to invade further into Ukraine, they would suffer huge consequences from NATO and also from the EU too,” she said.
In the wake of Monday’s talks, Russia has continued to demand guarantees that Ukraine should never join NATO.
Smith told DailyExpertNews that “honestly, I don’t see many compromises” on the issue of NATO’s approach to enlargement.
“Let me be very, very clear on this point – no one is suggesting that we change NATO’s policy on enlargement,” Smith said. “The door remains open. No one has the right to kick the door shut. And any decision about enlargement will remain between the NATO alliance and the country in question.”
But she said other issues will be on the table to discuss with Russia, including an ongoing talk about placing “some reciprocal limits” on military exercises and missiles.
Russia has gathered as many as 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border, and Smith told DailyExpertNews on Tuesday that the US has seen “no clear signs of de-escalation” from Russia during the talks.
“Russia still maintains about 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine. We think they have plans to bring more troops forward,” she said.
Smith reiterated that the Russians’ excuse for gathering troops for exercises “doesn’t really make sense at the moment.”
“They claim they’re practicing. That seems like a huge amount of troops to have at the border for a drill and there was no mention of any kind of drill either. So we’re not exactly clear why they’re joining forces on the border said Smith.