The residence of the President of the United States in Washington. File photoWASHINGTON, Jan 22 U.S. officials have asked Russian counterparts not to release the Americans' written response to Moscow's security assurance projects, the Washington Post reported, citing unnamed sources. Earlier, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed that a written response to the Russian initiatives would be presented next week, and expressed the hope that this would be followed by another meeting between Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
"American officials have asked Russian colleagues to keep the document secret", the publication says.
However, the State Department official acknowledged that Moscow could do otherwise. According to the newspaper, Washington's response will not be consistent with the requirements, but the White House believes that providing a letter that Russian President Vladimir Putin can see «makes sense».Geneva revelations — why Lavrov met with Blinken «If this (sending a response. — Approx. ed.) allows the final decision maker in Russia to consider these ideas and decide whether to move forward or not, this is in our interests,» the publication leads the words of a second source from the US presidential administration. At the end of 2021, Russia published draft treaties with the United States and agreements with NATO on security guarantees. Moscow, in particular, demands from its Western partners legal guarantees of refusing further expansion of NATO to the east, from joining the bloc of Ukraine and from creating military bases in post-Soviet countries. The first round of negotiations on this topic took place in Geneva on January 10. It was followed by a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels. After that, on January 13, consultations were held at the Vienna site of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Russia and NATOInfographicView