BRUSSELS, Feb 10 - RIA Novosti. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he had sent a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov inviting him to continue a series of meetings within the framework of the Russia-NATO Council.
"Today I sent a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, repeating my invitation to Russia to continue our dialogue within the framework of a series of meetings in the Russia-NATO Council in order to find a diplomatic way forward," he said at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
He added that NATO is "ready to listen to Russia's concerns, as well as discuss ways to strengthen the fundamental principles of European security."
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. Later, the United States and NATO sent written responses to Russia's proposals on security guarantees to Moscow.
