Without progress in three key areas for Russia in negotiations with the United States, work on other aspects will be questionable - Ryabkov

Guarantees of non-expansion of NATO is an absolute imperative

Geneva. January 10th. INTERFAX - Russia has warned the United States that without progress on three key aspects - non-expansion of NATO, non-deployment of strike weapons and development of territories of states that joined the alliance after 1997 - work in other areas of the security sphere will be questionable, said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

"They explained why obtaining legal guarantees of non-expansion of NATO is an absolute imperative, why we necessarily need to obtain legal guarantees of non-deployment of appropriate strike weapons at the Russian borders that can hit targets on our territory, and why we raise the question of why NATO should, by and large, abandon the material development of the territories of the states that joined NATO for the period after 1997," Ryabkov said at a briefing following negotiations with the United States.