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US Ambassador John Sullivan leaving the Russian Foreign Ministry
Photo: MAXIM SHEMETOV / REUTERS
Russia has received in writing from the US the long-awaited response to its demands for security guarantees.
This was announced by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday in Moscow.
Moscow's US Ambassador John Sullivan handed over the letter to Deputy Secretary of State Alexander Grushko at a meeting, it said.
According to information from alliance circles, NATO's response to Russia will not be published for the time being.
According to diplomats, it does not contain any major concessions.
It was made clear that core demands from Russia were unacceptable for the alliance, it said.
This includes, for example, Moscow's wish that NATO should rule out the admission of countries like Ukraine and initiate the withdrawal of armed forces from eastern alliance states.
Last month, Russia handed over a draft agreement to NATO and the United States in which the Kremlin demands security guarantees in Europe.
Among other things, it calls for an end to the eastward expansion of NATO, which Russia sees as a threat.
The US and NATO, in turn, suspect Russian President Vladimir Putin of planning an invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
The Kremlin rejects this.
At a crisis meeting in Geneva last Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov an answer to Moscow's list of demands for this week.
The US administration has repeatedly made it clear that NATO's open-door policy is not up for negotiation and that Moscow cannot decide on other countries' alliances.
At the same time, Washington had declared its willingness to negotiate with Moscow on other "mutual security issues," such as arms control.
as/dpa
