MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. Russia is not bluffing by putting forward the security safeguard proposals on a part of NATO and the US and will make every effort to facilitate the West’s awareness of it, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told the Foreign Affairs magazine on Monday.

"When we say loud and clear that we demand an official withdrawal of the decision made at the 2008 Bucharest summit relating to Ukraine and Georgia’s [intentions] to join NATO, <...> when we say that further expansion of NATO needs to be prevented, when we say that NATO facilities and all kinds of activities that are provocative for Russia need to be rolled back to the positions that existed in 1997 when the NATO-Russia Founding Act was signed, we are not bluffing. These are our real proposals. The West’s awareness of this needs to be facilitated and we are going to make every effort to achieve it," the senior diplomat noted.

On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry released draft agreements on legally-binding security guarantees on the part of the US and NATO. They were handed over to US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried on December 15. Russian President Vladimir Putin noted during his annual press conference that Moscow viewed the US’ positive reaction to the proposals on security guarantees. The Russian leader mentioned that Washington was ready to start talks in early 2022 in Geneva. Furthermore, the NATO Secretary General has earlier confirmed that the alliance is going to carefully review Moscow’s proposals.