MOSCOW, December 15. / TASS /. Russia and the US maintain contacts on security initiatives, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Wednesday.

"Today, these proposals were described on paper and officially handed over to the US partners. We are in contact with them," the diplomat noted.

Zakharova stated that Russia’s initiatives were handed over to the US side during the meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried. "They were repeatedly voiced by the [Russian] president and also described in the statement made by the foreign ministry on December 10," the diplomat said.

The Russian diplomat also announced that Ryabkov was going to hold a briefing on December 17, during which he would elaborate on the efforts made in this direction.