MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/. The issue of security assurances for Russia has not officially been removed from the negotiation agenda, but the question is whether the West is ready for such talks, Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Alexander Venediktov said in an interview with TASS.

"One of Moscow’s important foreign policy principles is to keep the doors open. Officially, the topic of our initiatives on legally binding security guarantees has not been taken off the agenda. Another thing is that it is not up to us any more. As they say, the ball is in their court," Venediktov said.

In his words, a broader question should be raised.

"Is the West even ready for any negotiations at all? Or is it still trapped in absurd illusions about ‘victory on the battlefield’ and ‘Russia’s defeat’?" Venediktov asked rhetorically, adding that the Russian-US talks were torpedoed this spring "by direct order from Washington."

"As soon as the Westerners realize that the strategy of fighting to the last Ukrainian and that continually raising the stakes leads nowhere, then it will probably be possible to consider going back to our initiatives [on negotiations with the West on security guarantees for Russia]. However, as for now, the Americans and Europeans keep enthusiastically pushing Kiev headlong into the very thick of it," the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council said.

On December 17, 2021, the Russian Foreign Ministry published draft agreements on security guarantees that Moscow expects from Washington and NATO. The two treaties - one with the US and the other with NATO - stipulate that NATO would halt its eastward expansion, deny membership to Ukraine, and introduce limits on the deployment of serious offensive weapons, including nuclear ones. Several rounds of talks were held, but no agreements were announced.

At the end of this January, the US and NATO handed Moscow their written replies to Russian proposals. However, the West did not make concessions, which were a matter of principle for Russia, but merely outlined the areas for future negotiations. The talks on these issues have never resumed after a special military operation was launched in Ukraine.