Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke for the first time about Washington’s response to Moscow’s earlier proposals on security guarantees. On Tuesday, February 1, reports RIA News.
According to the head of state, the Kremlin did not notice that the United States tried to take into account the three key requirements that were previously voiced by Russia in its initiative. In particular, we are talking about NATO’s refusal to further expand, the non-deployment of the alliance’s strike systems near Russian borders, and the return of the bloc’s military infrastructure in Europe to the state of 1997.
“We are carefully analyzing the written responses received on January 26 from the United States and NATO. But it is already clear (…) that Russia’s fundamental concerns were ignored,” Putin said during a press conference following talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Earlier on Feb. 1, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia had not yet conveyed to the United States its main response to their proposals for security guarantees. He clarified that Putin would make a decision on this issue when he “deems it necessary.”
Prior to this, a representative of the US State Department said that Washington allegedly received a response from Moscow to its proposals for security guarantees. The Russian Foreign Ministry denied this information. As sources in the ministry explained, the transmission of the Russian response could not take place, since the diplomatic department is currently working on a consolidated response for the US and NATO.
US Ambassador John Sullivan handed over to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko a written response from the US authorities to the proposals for security guarantees on January 26. At the same time, NATO’s written response was handed over to the Russian ambassador in Brussels.
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