Russia (bbabo.net), - The telephone conversation between Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden was useful to both parties. This is stated in a statement by the Kremlin press service following a conversation between the two leaders.

"On the whole, the conversation was frank and businesslike and, of course, was useful to both parties. It was agreed to continue regular contacts at the highest level," the text posted on the Kremlin's website says.

The Russian leader explained in detail the principled approaches underlying the Russian draft agreements with the United States and NATO. "It was emphasized that the result of joint work should be firm legal guarantees that exclude NATO's advance to the east and the deployment of threatening weapons systems in the immediate vicinity of Russian borders," the message also says.

Putin and Biden expressed mutual readiness for a dialogue on security issues. "It was confirmed that the talks will take place first in Geneva on January 9-10, and then within the framework of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels on January 12. On January 13, discussions will begin in the OSCE," the presidential press service reported.

It is also noted that Biden stressed the special responsibility of Russia and the United States for ensuring stability in Europe "and in the world as a whole, as well as the fact that Washington has no intentions to deploy offensive strike weapons on Ukrainian territory."

In addition, the Russian side gave an answer to the option, mentioned by Biden, of adopting "large-scale" sanctions against Russia in the event of an escalation of the situation around Ukraine. "In particular, it was said that this would be a grave mistake, in fact, threatening a complete rupture of Russian-American relations," the Kremlin said in a statement.

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