WASHINGTON, January 25. /TASS/. The US government will give its written response to Moscow’s proposals on security guarantees later this week, and will wait for Russia’s reaction, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

"My anticipation <…> is that we’ll share our paper with the Russians at some point this week," he said during a seminar, broadcast by the US Department of State’s website, adding that he expected NATO to do the same.

"Then we’ll see how Russia reacts, if it sees a basis for continuing to pursue a dialogue, for continuing to pursue diplomacy, which is by far the preferable course," the US top diplomat continued.

On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry released draft agreements on the security guarantees that Moscow expects to receive from Washington and NATO. The two accords - one with the US and another one with the Western-led bloc - particularly oblige NATO to cease its eastward expansion, namely to drop plans on granting Ukraine membership, and envisage restrictions on the deployment of serious offensive weapons, including nuclear ones.

Washington agreed to provide Moscow with written responses to its proposals on security guarantees following the January 21 meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The two countries’ top diplomats plan to hold another meeting after Moscow gets the answers.