MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. Moscow has confirmed its readiness to conduct solid, focused work with Washington on security guarantees despite all differences, with specific proposals on this matter already conveyed to the Americans, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Solovyov Live YouTube channel on Thursday.
She pointed out that Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov handed Moscow’s offers to Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried at a meeting in Moscow on Wednesday. "This is specific focused work. This is just more proof, yet another fact, indicating that we indeed, despite any differences (by the way, also those as a matter of principle, those are not just our transitory or momentary differences of opinion), in spite of it, we are ready for high-priority work on key issues that concern both our countries, the people of our countries, and, actually, the entire global community," the diplomat noted.
According to her, this way Russia is undertaking practical steps "that should lead to dialogue on principal key issues" both for bilateral relations with the US and from the point of view of global stability and security. The spokeswoman also emphasized that such actions by Moscow are far from "loudspeaker diplomacy" or the attempts to prove somebody wrong. "This is yet another factor, it seems to me, just more, simply irrefutable proof of our ability to develop a constructive approach to the bilateral agenda, [and] the international agenda despite those opportunistic circumstances being built up by our partners," the diplomat concluded.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged NATO to begin focused talks in order to provide Russia with reliable long-term security guarantees. The Russian head of state specified that Moscow needs specifically legal guarantees since earlier Western officials did not fulfill their corresponding verbal obligations.