US response to Russia proposals negative: Lavrov
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Russia and the West are still going back and forth as Washington and Brussels are still not responding to Moscow's core demands appropriately.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks to the media during a press conference in Moscow, Russia (AP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov informed President Vladimir Putin on Monday that Washington's response to key issues of Moscow's proposals on security guarantees was negative.
Lavrov told the Russian leader the West had responded, clarifying that Washington and Brussels' answers had been carefully studied in an interagency format with Moscow's colleagues.
"We are primarily interested in the answer of the United States because everyone understands who plays the main role in resolving these issues in the Western camp," Lavrov said.
He also underlined that Russia was "not satisfied" by the fact that Washington's response to key issues was negative, while NATO wanted to determine the development of the situation in Europe on its own.
However, he highlighted, Russia was satisfied with a part of the response, describing it as "more constructive and includes concrete measures."
The top Russian diplomat stressed that the West ignored Russia's letters on the principle of indivisible security, and Moscow only received a collective response from the EU and NATO.
President Vladimir Putin discussed with Moscow's top diplomat issues related to Russia's proposals on security guarantees during the meeting on Monday, and he said he agreed with Lavrov that the Russian Foreign Ministry would prevent its views on the answers to their proposals on security guarantees.
The proposals are related to European security and the answer to our concerns related to what Moscow sees as "an endless and very dangerous eastward expansion of NATO. Now at the expense of the former republics of the Soviet Union, including Ukraine," Putin said.
Concept of indivisible security different from West presentation
The concept of indivisible security is different from what the West is trying to present, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"I sent a special message to all our Western colleagues, drawing their attention to the fact that the obligations on the indivisibility of security are much more complex than they try to imagine," Lavrov noted.
"However, assuring, in brackets, that this is not the case yet... but we all know how such assurances work," Lavrov said during a meeting with Putin.
The discussion of this topic will continue as part of various contacts, the diplomat assured, as tensions escalate between the West and Russia over the topic.
Russia responded to the responses via a 10-page letter, saying Lavrov after the Kremlin vowed that Russia would bring the responses to the table soon.
US President Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky spoke Sunday about the alleged Russian military buildup along the border with Ukraine, and they both agreed they needed to pursue diplomacy and deterrence, the White House said.
Biden had talked with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Saturday, and the US president warned his Russian counterpart Washington would "respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia" should it, as he puts it, invade Ukraine.
