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No reply from Russia to NATO due today, work in progress — senior diplomat

Earlier, the Russian foreign minister said that Moscow would send to Washington its reply to security guarantee proposals and it would be made public soon

MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. Moscow keeps working on its reply concerning security guarantees to NATO, but this document will not be dispatched today, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the media on Thursday.

"No, we will not send it today, we are still working on it," he said in reply to a corresponding question.

Earlier on Thursday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow would send to Washington its reply to security guarantee proposals and it would be made public soon.

The United States and NATO on January 26 handed to Russia written answers to Moscow’s security guarantee proposals. The US asked Russia to avoid disclosing the texts of these documents, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reviewed their highlights. As follows from what they said the West had refused to make any concessions of fundamental importance to Russia but mapped out guidelines for further talks instead.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday discussed the US and NATO reaction to Moscow’s security initiatives with Lavrov. When asked by the head of state if there was any chance of reaching an agreement on problem issues with the Western partners Lavrov answered in the affirmative, adding that "there is always a chance." He stressed that Russia’s response to the proposals from Washington and Brussels had been formulated on ten pages.