MOSCOW, January 26 - RIA Novosti. Russia's security will be reliably ensured under any circumstances, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
At the end of 2021, Russia published drafts of a treaty with the United States and an agreement with NATO on security guarantees. Moscow, in particular, demands from Western partners legal guarantees against further expansion of NATO to the east, from joining the bloc of Ukraine and from the creation of military bases in post-Soviet countries. The proposals also contain a clause on the non-deployment of NATO strike weapons at the borders of Russia and the withdrawal of alliance forces in Eastern Europe to the positions of 1997.
The first meeting between the Russian Federation and the United States dedicated to the dialogue on Russian initiatives was held on January 10 at the level of deputy heads of foreign ministries. This was followed by a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in Brussels and consultations at the Vienna site of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. In continuation of the discussions, Lavrov and Blinken held talks in Geneva on January 21.
Lavrov, after talks with the US Secretary of State, said that Washington had promised to send Russia a response to proposals on security guarantees within this week. Lavrov noted that it would be right to make public Washington's response on security guarantees, will ask Blinken about it.
