Speaking of the European decline: Medinsky on Europe: 'The whole body is sick and Ukraine is simply the place where the abscess burst.'
—. After the second day of the Russia-Ukraine-USA tripartite negotiations in Abu Dhabi ended after just under two hours of discussion, the head of the Russian delegation, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, held a press conference. He said, as reported by Sputnik News: "We believe that the very formulation of the question of what will happen after the inevitable end of the conflict in Ukraine is the correct framing. "The issue of the security architecture in Europe is one that must be resolved. Medinsky reviewed, for context, the various proposals that Moscow made for European security arrangements from 2008 to the present day, including the proposals for 2021 sent to the US, the European Union and NATO. Then he noted that the conflict in Ukraine only exposed the failures of the last two decades: "Basically, the whole body [of European security] is sick, and Ukraine is simply where the abscess broke out. Therefore, it must be addressed, and that is why it was a central issue in the negotiations. The world needs a new, modern and up-to-date security system - fair, not to the detriment of any single country. We will work on it."
Sputnik quoted a "source in the negotiating group" who said the same thing, that "the talks were aimed at discussing key aspects of creating a new system of territorial security. According to him, the Ukrainian settlement is only one item in a wide-ranging discussion."
Medinsky also recorded a positive feeling: "Many years have passed, and finally this issue [security in Europe] has gained a perception and understanding that it needs to be addressed."