Putin: U.S. and NATO ignore Russia’s demands for security guarantees
The U.S. and NATO, in their written responses to Russia on long-term security guarantees, ignored Russia's basic demands, said Russian President Vladimir Putin during a press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Putin noted that the Russia is analyzing the written replies received on January 26 from the United States and NATO.
"But it is already clear that Russia’s fundamental concerns have been ignored. We did not see an adequate consideration of our three key requirements regarding the prevention of NATO expansion, the refusal to deploy strike weapons systems near the Russian borders, as well as the return of the NATO military infrastructure in Europe to the 1997 borders, when the Russia-NATO Founding Act was signed, "Putin said.
According to Putin, while ignoring Russia’s "concerns", the United States and NATO say that the countries are free to choose how to ensure their security.
"But it's not just about giving someone the right to freely choose how to ensure their security. It's only one part of the well-known formula for the indivisibility of security. The second integral part says that it is impossible to allow the strengthening of anyone's security at the expense of the security of other states," Putin stressed.
On January 26, the United States and NATO provided Russia with a written response to the "security demands." Kyiv also received a copy of Washington's response to Russia. According to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, Kyiv has no objections as to the content of the American response. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that "there was no positive response in this document on the main issue."