MOSCOW, Feb 15 Russian response to US and NATO on security assurances is almost ready, official says Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Soloviev Live. «Our response is almost ready. Because we are now answering the question of whether there will be an answer, and when it will be. Yesterday, both departments — foreign policy and defense — reported to the president that (preparation answer) is at the final stage,» she said. At the end of last year, Moscow handed over draft documents on security guarantees to Brussels and Washington. Russia insists on ending the bloc's military cooperation with the post-Soviet countries, refusing to create bases on their territory, limiting the deployment of strike weapons near the Russian border, removing American nuclear weapons from Europe and not expanding NATO to the east. At the end of January, Russia received a written response. The Foreign Ministry said that Western partners ignored the most important issue — the non-expansion of the alliance. with Lavrov
