MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. US President Joe Biden informed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin about the ideas on security guarantees but they don’t take into account key Russian concerns, Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov told reporters.
"He [Biden] said he is committed to the diplomatic path and in this regard he outlined a number of considerations that, in his view, take into account many of Russia’s concerns and initiatives, which were outlined and conveyed to the Americans and NATO," Ushakov said.
"I will note right away that the Russian president reacted in the spirit that the Russian side will of course analyze the considerations expressed by Biden and we will certainly take them into account. But unfortunately, and this was said, these considerations do not address the central, key elements of the Russian initiatives," the Kremlin aide said.
These concerns include issues of NATO’s non-expansion, non-deployment of strike forces on Ukrainian soil, return to NATO force posture back to 1997, when the NATO-Russia Founding Act was signed.
"[On these issues] we have not received any substantive answer," Ushakov stressed. He noted that many of steps outlined by Biden in the phone call had been included in the responses to Russian proposals by Washington and NATO in January.
The last time Putin and Biden held a phone conversation was at the end of last year. Before that, on December 7, they held a video conference. The first face-to-face meeting of Putin and Biden as the heads of state took place in Geneva in June 2021.