Russian Foreign Minister Sergey LavrovMOSCOW, February 1 «At this stage, we are completing the interdepartmental coordination of proposals received from the United States on other issues, we will report them to our president,» the minister said after a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. At the end of 2021, Russia published drafts of a treaty with the United States and an agreement with NATO on security assurances. Moscow, in particular, demands from its Western partners legal guarantees of refusing further expansion of NATO to the east, from joining the Ukrainian bloc and from establishing military bases in post-Soviet countries. The proposals also contain a clause on the non-deployment of NATO strike weapons near the borders of Russia and the withdrawal of alliance forces in Eastern Europe to the positions of 1997. On January 26, the United States and NATO submitted to Moscow written responses to Russia's proposals on security guarantees. According to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the document reflects US concerns about Russia's security actions and proposals on areas where countries can find common ground. According to him, there are «very positive things» in the written response, the United States is ready to move forward in areas where cooperation with Russia is possible, ready to discuss common security, the response once again emphasizes that the United States will not compromise NATO's «open door» principle.
The West is trying to forget about the principle of indivisibility of security, Lavrov said
