Lavrov Says Moscow Ready To Discuss Security With US On Precondition Of NATO Non-Expansion

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow is ready to continue the security dialogue with the United States on the precondition of NATO not expanding

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2022) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow is ready to continue the security dialogue with the United States on the precondition of NATO not expanding.

"We are ready to discuss the issues that the Americans have stated, including our previous ideas. But we will do this only to receive answers to major issues of our concern: non-expansion of NATO eastwards and consideration on the configuration of the NATO presence on the European continent, especially in central and eastern Europe, with respect to agreements made in the framework of the Russia-NATO Council," Lavrov told a meeting of the Russian Security Council.

However, the minister noted that the West is not ready to accept Moscow's proposals and "fights to the bitter end" on the inadmissibility of suspending NATO's so-called open door policy, despite them stating that "this sort of policy does not exist." Lavrov emphasized that Western counterparts have not offered any alternative to the proposal on this matter.

The minister added that the West continues to circumvent key principles of Russian security proposals. However, he said that Moscow emphasized in security documents "that our proposals are not some kind of menu to choose from, they are not an ultimatum," but should be considered as a whole.