TASS, December 16. Russia is waiting for the US response and expects fundamental work on the security safeguard proposals, which were handed over by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov to US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Channel One Russia on Thursday.
"Now, we are waiting for the [US] response regarding the proposals it currently has on the desk," the Russian diplomat noted. "Yesterday and today were days of silence; we did not provide many comments on the substance of these proposals in order not to engage in ‘megaphone diplomacy.’ We are looking forward to constructive work on the documents, which our partners received," Zakharova said.
The Russian diplomat also pointed out that NATO could not ensure its security by making complaints at the expense of similar rights of another country and other people.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on NATO to launch substantive talks aiming to develop reliable and long-term security guarantees. The head of state emphasized that Russia needed legal safeguards since the Western colleagues had not fulfilled their verbal obligations previously.
On Thursday, according to Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Aide to the Russian President Yury Ushakov told US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan that Moscow was ready to start negotiations on the security safeguard proposals as soon as possible. The Kremlin spokesman also mentioned that Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov was going to represent Russia in these talks.