Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with restrained optimism about the possibility of solving the problem of security guarantees. This was announced at a briefing with reporters by the press secretary of the country's leader Dmitry Peskov.

“He [Vladimir Putin] with restrained optimism and hope, I would say so, he said the possibility of solving the problem of guaranteeing security, including through diploma negotiations,” a Kremlin spokesman said, commenting on the president’s response to Washington’s security proposals.

The day before, Vladimir Putin publicly commented for the first time on the US response to Russian proposals for security guarantees. “Russian concerns were ignored. We did not see adequate consideration of our three key requirements,” the Russian leader said. These include, firstly, the non-expansion of NATO to the east, secondly, the refusal to deploy strike weapons near the borders of Russia, and thirdly, the return of NATO's military infrastructure in Europe to the state of 1997. According to Putin, Russia was "thrown" after the collapse of the USSR, breaking the promise not to expand to the east.

On January 26, the US and NATO handed over to Russia their written responses to Moscow's proposed security guarantees. In statements, they outlined their principles in negotiations with Moscow.

bbabo.Net