MOSCOW, January 27. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a decision on the further steps to be taken following the US and NATO reaction to security guarantee proposals, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said while commenting on Washington’s response to Moscow’s security guarantee initiatives.
"After inter-departmental coordination we will report to President Vladimir Putin. He will make a decision on our further moves," Lavrov said.
He stressed that Moscow would study the replies from the United States and NATO to Russia’s proposals in one package.
"We are now examining the answer we have received from the Americans and which, as follows from what [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken said himself, had been agreed with the Ukrainians and with other Western countries that are the United States’ allies," Lavrov said. "Alongside this we received an answer from NATO, from its Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. We are considering these two documents in one package, because they are a reaction to the draft treaty and draft agreement that we proposed in December 2021."
The Russian Foreign Ministry on December 17, 2021, published Russia’s drafts of security guarantee agreements Moscow expects Washington and NATO to sign. The two proposed treaties - with the United States and NATO - envisage, among other things, NATO’s pledge to refrain from expansion to the east, including the abrogation of plans for admitting Ukraine to the alliance, and also restrictions on the deployment of major attack weapons, including nuclear ones. There have been several rounds of consultations since, but no agreements have been unveiled so far.
The United States and NATO presented their replies in writing to Moscow’s security guarantee proposals on January 26.