MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a telephone conversation with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, has noted the importance of the prompt start of negotiations on security guarantees for Russia, the Kremlin’s press service said.

"The Russian president noted the importance of a prompt launch of international negotiations on legally formalized guarantees that would rule out NATO’s further expansion to the East and the deployment of weapons threatening Russia in neighboring countries, in the first place - Ukraine," the news release runs.

The Kremlin said Putin also spoke about this in his recent video call with US President Joe Biden.

"The Russian leader called upon the French partners to react with understanding to the concerns expressed and to participate in their discussion," the Kremlin said.

Earlier, Putin called upon NATO to enter into substantive negotiations on firm and long-term security guarantees for Russia. He stressed that Russia needed legal guarantees committed to paper, because previously the Western counterparts reneged on their verbal commitments.

Putin and Biden held negotiations in a video call on December 7 and agreed to instruct their representatives to enter into consultations on substantive issues. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier told the media that Moscow would hand over its proposals for security guarantees to the United States via diplomatic channels this week.