MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. Moscow will consider the views that US President Joe Biden expressed in a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin when working on a reaction to the United States and NATO’s response to its proposals on security guarantees, Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov told reporters on Saturday.
"The two presidents agreed that Moscow will carefully study the views that Biden expressed and if possible, take them into account when working on a reaction to the documents on the US and NATO’s positions," he pointed out.
Putin said during the phone call that Russia had almost completed "interagency consultations <...> on the possible steps and an announcement will be made in the near future," Ushakov said. "We will soon inform our partners and the public of our reaction," he added added.
According to him, Putin mentioned the history of relations between the US, NATO and Russia, pointing out that "during the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the US were clearly adversaries but in the 1990s, for instance, we seemed to be friends, though even then, the policy that the US and NATO pursued towards Russia was far from constructive."
The Kremlin aide noted that "this is when practical steps to expand NATO’s scope of activity began, this is when new countries were granted membership and the alliance came close to Russia’s borders." "Later, in the 2000s, the security situation in the Euro-Atlantic region dramatically deteriorated and it was about our country’s security," Ushakov stressed.
US President Joe Biden pointed out in a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday that Moscow and Washington remain opponents, but they need to do their best to maintain global stability and security, Ushakov told.
Ushakov explained that during the conversation, the US president even referred to the experience of their predecessors, who did everything in their power during the Cold War to avoid the disaster, a major conflict between the two states.
"He (Biden - TASS) said that our two great powers are still rivals now, but they must do their best to maintain stability and ensure security throughout the world," Ushakov said.
According to the Kremlin official, Biden also emphasized that it was necessary to do everything possible to avoid the worst scenario in the current crisis around Ukraine.
The West and Kiev have recently been spreading allegations about Russia’s potential ‘invasion’ of Ukraine. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov castigated these claims as "empty and unfounded", serving as a ploy to escalate tensions, pointing out that Russia did not pose any threat whatsoever to anyone. However, Peskov did not rule out the possibility of provocations aimed at justifying such allegations and warned that attempts to use military force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have serious consequences.
Russian and US Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden have decided that Moscow and Washington will maintain contacts at different levels, Ushakov said.
"The presidents agreed on further contacts at different levels on all the issues discussed by the phone today," Ushakov said.
The Kremlin official said that the agreement had been reached taking into consideration Biden’s wish.
"As Joe Biden said, he wants interstate relations between Russia and the United States to be built on the foundation of mutual respect," Ushakov added.
In December 2021, Putin and Biden held talks via videoconference and later spoke over the phone. They discussed security, international issues and bilateral relations then.