Russia-US talks on security guarantees to be held next month: Lavrov
Russia’s foreign minister says talks on a list of security guarantees Moscow wants from Washington regarding the rubbing points in relations with NATO over Ukraine are scheduled to be held between Russian and American officials next month.
Sergei Lavrov said in an interview live-streamed on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website on Monday that the talks would take place immediately after Russia's New Year holidays. The first official working day of 2022 in Russia starts on January 10.
Russia said a day earlier that it had received and was considering a separate NATO proposal to commence negotiations on Moscow's security concerns on January 12.
“We have already received this (NATO) offer, and we are considering it,” TASS news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying. “The time, modalities, format and makeup of the delegation are being considered,” he added.
Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, also said on Monday that the talks between Russian and NATO officials on the guarantees made sense and that the arrangements were being worked out via diplomatic channels.
Earlier in the month, Russia unveiled a list of security proposals it wants to negotiate with the US, including a pledge that NATO would give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has said a number of Russia's security proposals are obviously unacceptable but that the US will respond with more concrete ideas on the format of any talks.
Tensions have been mounting in eastern Ukraine since November, when several Western media outlets reported that Russia had been amassing troops near the border with the objective of a large-scale military invasion of the country. Russia denies the allegations, saying it is free to move its troops around within its own borders and that its military buildup is in response to increased NATO activity near its borders.
Russia says Moscow does not seek an armed conflict with Ukraine but "has all the capabilities in place to ensure a full military and technical response to any kind of provocations that might unfold around us."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned the West against crossing the Kremlin's red lines by staging military exercises in, and sending lethal weaponry to, Ukraine.
Moscow has already ordered some 10,000 servicemen who had gathered close to the Ukrainian border to return to their permanent bases.
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