MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. Russia formulated its proposals on security guarantees and handed them over to the US and NATO in a constructive and prompt fashion, and is ready to discuss them in the OSCE as well, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference Thursday.
"As for our agreements with President Biden. I’ve said it already: he proposed to assign official representatives to discuss the issues of strategic stability, including our concerns regarding the growing threat from Ukraine," the Russian leader said.
"He proposed it, and we responded — in my opinion, in a very constructive and prompt fashion," Putin underscored. "I told him during our conversation: I promise you that we will send our proposals shortly. And we did just that, we’ve sent them both to the US and NATO. We are ready to discuss them in the OSCE as well."
Putin expressed his hope that this "first positive reaction" and the potential beginning of the dialogue on Russia’s proposals, announced for early January, will make it possible for the sides to move forward.
On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry published draft agreements on guarantees of security with the US and NATO. Russia stated its readiness to begin negotiations on these draft documents immediately. The Russian delegation will be led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov.
Earlier, Putin urged NATO to engage in substantial talks in order to provide Russia with reliable and long-term guarantees of security. He noted that Moscow needs legally binding guarantees, because Western partners had failed to fulfill their verbal obligations.