MOSCOW, Dec 21 - RIA Novosti. The Russian army has gained a very decent pace of development, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
During an expanded meeting of the Defense Ministry board, Putin noted that Russia hopes for constructive, meaningful negotiations on security guarantees with a visible end result.
"But it is possible to strive for this only in the case of full-fledged development of the armed forces. In recent years, we have been able to do this, and a good level of combat readiness has been achieved. And I have talked about this, and the Minister (of Defense - ed.) has just reported. The pace is very decent, necessary for us. There are issues that require additional attention, we are constantly dealing with them with industry," Putin said.
On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry published drafts of a treaty with the United States and an agreement with NATO on security guarantees. The documents have already been handed over to Washington and its allies. One of the points of the draft agreement suggests that NATO should provide guarantees of non-expansion of the alliance into the territory of Ukraine. As Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told RIA Novosti, if NATO and the United States do not respond to Russia's demand for security guarantees, this could lead to a new round of confrontation.
