MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. Moscow handed its proposals on the development of legal security guarantees for Russia over to Washington today, Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov told reporters following a video call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday.
"The president informed [Xi Jinping] that today, specific proposals for the development of legal guarantees of Russia’s security were handed over to US representatives at our Foreign Ministry’s office," he said.
According to Ushakov, Putin emphasized that Moscow was ready to immediately launch talks on that important issue. "He was hopeful that the Americans and NATO officials would react positively," the Kremlin aide added.
The Chinese chairman pointed out that he understood Russia’s concerns and fully supported our initiative on the development of security guarantees for Russia, Ushakov added. "The parties agreed to maintain contact on the matter. We will inform our Chinese colleagues about how talks and contacts with our American and NATO partners are going," he pointed out.
Putin earlier called on NATO to launch substantive negotiations in order to provide Russia with reliable and long-term security guarantees. The head of state specified that Russia was seeking legal and judicial guarantees because the West had earlier failed to keep its verbal promises.