MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu drew attention of his British counterpart, Ben Wallace, to the lack of response from the United States and NATO to Russia’s key security demands, the Russian defense ministry said on Friday after their talks.
"The Russian defense ministry briefly commented on the US and NATO responses to Russian draft agreements on this matter. He focused attention to the lack of responses to Russia’s key demands: NATO’s non-expansion, non-deployment offensive arms near Russian borders and the return of the bloc’s military potentials and infrastructure to the positions of 1997 when the Russia-NATO Final Act was signed. He stressed that it is impossible to ease military-political tension and build a reliable architecture of European security without settling these issues," it said.
On December 17, 2021, the Russian foreign ministry released a draft agreement on security guarantees between Russia and the United States, and a draft agreement on ensuring the security of Russia and NATO member states. The proposed measures include guarantees that NATO will not advance eastward, including the accession of Ukraine and other countries into the alliance, as well as non-deployment of serious offensive weapons, including nuclear ones. The sides have had several rounds of consultations in various formats but no agreements have yet been announced.
On January 26, the US and NATO handed over written responses to Russia on Moscow’s security guarantees that it was demanding from Washington and Brussels. The American side requested that the documents not be made public, although US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg enumerated their basic provisions. According to these statements, the West did not make concessions to Russia considered to be critical, but did indicate directions for further negotiations.