Russia Receives U.S. Written Response To Security Guarantees Amid Heightened Ukraine Tensions

Russia Receives US Written Response to Security Guarantees Proposal Amid Heightened Ukraine Tensions

Sputnik

In mid-December, the Russian Foreign Ministry presented draft security guarantee proposals for consideration by the United States and its allies, proposing that both sides significantly scale back activities which could be perceived as threatening to the other party, and demanding that Ukraine and other post-Soviet republics be kept out of NATO.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has confirmed receiving the US' written response to the security proposals presented by Moscow in December.

"On 26 January, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko received US Ambassador John Sullivan at the latter's request. In the course of the meeting, the head of the US diplomatic mission handed Grushko the written response of the US administration on the draft bilateral treaty on security guarantees submitted earlier by the Russian side," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Telegram page on Wednesday.

Earlier, Bloomberg reported that the United States had delivered its written response on the draft treaties to its Russian counterparts.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is set to hold a press conference later in the day and is expected to address the agreements.

Earlier, CNN reported that Washington's written response lists general areas where Washington is ready to work with Moscow, including arms control and greater transparency, as well as the placement of missile systems.

Russian officials had previously indicated that its security proposals were to be taken as a package deal, and that the US and NATO could not simply pick and choose which points they liked like from a menu at a restaurant.

The White House indicated Tuesday that the US was not going to make public its response to the Russian proposals. Russia will keep the US response confidential if asked to do so, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.

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