MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. Talks on security guarantees due to be held in Geneva in January will demonstrate whether the United States is really ready to give a substantive response on this topic, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.

"It is necessary to focus on the talks we hope will be held in January 2022. This is when is will become clear whether the Americans are ready to give a substantive response, or they will opt for protracting the process and for seeking to initiate a policy toward years-long talks," he said in an interview with the Moscow.Kremlin.Putin program on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

According to Peskov, protracting talks will not be suitable for Russia. "The situation is that we need a solution, an urgent, concrete solution that will meet our interests," he stressed.

He recalled Russian President Vladimir Putin’s words that "security of one countries cannot be ensured at the expense of others and security of one countries cannot be a threat to others."

On December 17, the Russian foreign ministry released two Russian draft agreements in security guarantees from the United States and NATO. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan that Moscow was ready to begin talks on draft documents on security guarantees.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on NATO to begin substantive talks on reliable long-term security guarantees to Russia. He stressed that Russia needs legally binding guarantees because the West has failed to fulfill its verbal commitments.