"The dialogue will continue." Putin commented on the responses of the US and NATO on security guarantees

The US and NATO have ignored "principled Russian concerns" in their responses to Russia's proposed security guarantees, President Vladimir Putin said. Despite this, Moscow, he said, hopes to continue the dialogue until a solution that satisfies everyone is found.

“We are carefully analyzing the responses received from the US and NATO, but it is already clear that the fundamental Russian concerns were ignored. We did not see adequate consideration of our three key demands regarding the prevention of NATO expansion, the refusal to deploy strike weapons systems near Russian borders, and the return of the bloc's military infrastructure in Europe to the state of 1997, when the Russia-NATO founding act was signed," he said. Putin at a press conference following a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (broadcast by RBC).

The President noted that the US and NATO refer to the right of states to freely choose ways to ensure their security, and Russia generally agrees with this, but "one cannot be allowed to strengthen anyone's security at the expense of the security of other states." “The admission of Ukraine to NATO undermines our security,” Putin summed up.

According to him, Ukraine's documents say that it is going to return Crimea, including by military means. “Let’s imagine that Ukraine is a member of NATO, stuffed with weapons, has modern strike systems the same as in Poland and Romania, and starts an operation in the Crimea… Should we fight the NATO bloc?” he continued.

The United States, according to Putin, does not so much care about the security of Ukraine as through it they are trying to achieve their main goal - restraining the development of Russia.

Commenting on the "open door" policy, which is now being talked about in NATO, the President noted that it is not fixed anywhere. Therefore, both the United States and NATO, in his opinion, can tell Ukraine that they respect its desire to join the alliance, but cannot accept it, because they have other international obligations. “What is incomprehensible or even offensive for Ukraine here?” Putin asked.

At the end, he noted that he hoped to continue the dialogue on security guarantees, despite all the differences. “I hope that we will eventually find this solution, although it is not easy, we are aware of this,” Putin concluded.

• The US and NATO responses on security assurances arrived at the Russian Foreign Ministry on 26 January. It was immediately clear that Moscow considered the documents unsatisfactory - the West refused to discuss Russia's main demand that NATO not expand eastwards.
• Later, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that there was no "positive reaction" from the United States to Russia's main security proposal. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the decision on Russia's further steps would be made by Vladimir Putin.