Russia welcomes US readiness to talk security, seeks proposals

Bloomberg

Russia welcomed US willingness to start talks next month on its security proposals, a
day after President Vladimir Putin threatened a military response if the Kremlin’s demands aren’t met.
“We would like to hope that for the upcoming negotiations, which is already positive, our partners will come with clearly formulated positions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The US said it’s ready to discuss Russia’s European security proposals published last week while also calling parts of them “unacceptable,” amid rising tensions over a buildup of Russian forces on the border with Ukraine. Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also said the alliance wants “meaningful dialogue” with Moscow and he plans to call a Nato-Russia Council meeting as soon as possible in the New Year.
Putin threatened to “take adequate military-technical response measures” if the West doesn’t accept Russia’s security demands. The US and its allies “must understand that we have nowhere to retreat further” and Russia can’t allow them to deploy missiles in Ukraine that would be a few minutes’ strike distance from Moscow, he said at the Russian Defense Ministry.
Putin explained Russia’s proposals in separate phone talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Peskov declined to elaborate on what Russia’s response measures may be, saying only that they would ensure parity of mutual deterrence. It’s important the proposed talks don’t become drawn out and turn into negotiations for their own sake, he said.
The president hit out after Russia demanded that Nato withdraw forces to the positions they held in 1997, before the alliance expanded to include former Soviet satellite states in eastern Europe, as part of proposed new security treaties. Russia also called on the US to rule out any prospect of membership for ex-Soviet states.
The US is adopting a “businesslike” approach to Russia’s proposals and Moscow is willing to discuss its concerns, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview to RT TV. Russia hasn’t yet received proposals from the US side, he said.