WASHINGTON, January 28. /TASS/. The US authorities are waiting for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reaction to Washington’s reply to Russian proposals on security guarantees, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (designated by Russia as a foreign agent).
"I’ve heard a variety of initial responses from different people in Russia to the paper that we shared with them, as well as to the paper that NATO shared with them. But the response that counts is President Putin’s response, and to the best of our understanding, according the Russians, these papers are on his desk. And we’ll look forward to his response, which I’m sure will be conveyed through [Russian] Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov and others in the days ahead. That’s what matters most," Blinken was quoted as saying in a transcript, released by the Department of State’s press service.
On December 17, 2021, the Russian Foreign Ministry published draft agreements between Moscow and Washington on security guarantees and the measures of ensuring the security of Russia and NATO member states. The proposed measures include guarantees that NATO will not advance eastward, including the accession of Ukraine and other countries into the alliance, as well as the non-deployment of serious offensive weapons, including nuclear ones. On January 26, the US and NATO submitted to Russia their written response to Moscow’s proposal on security guarantees.
The US side handed over its written response to Russia on January 26. Washington’s replies on security guarantees contain "no positive reaction" on the main issue, which is Russia’s "clear-cut position on the inadmissibility of NATO’s further eastward expansion and the deployment of strike armaments that may threaten the territory of the Russian Federation," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.