At the beginning of next year, Russia will start negotiations with American representatives about the security guarantees it wants from the West, including the ban on Ukraine's entry into NATO, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday.
The negotiations, as part of efforts to prevent a Russian offensive in Ukraine, are viewed with suspicion by Kiev and Eastern European governments, which demand that they not be left out of any deal with Moscow that also concerns their interests.
Lavrov announced the talks during yesterday's interview with RT and said that the negotiations will start "at the very beginning of next year".
"The first round will be held in the form of bilateral contacts between our and American negotiators, who have already been appointed and are acceptable to both sides," said Lavrov.
The precise agenda and scope of the talks have not been announced, the "Guardian" points out.
"We don't want war," Lavrov said in an interview. "We don't need conflicts and we hope that no one else sees conflict as a desirable course of events."
He also said that similar negotiations will be held with NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The details of those talks were also not disclosed.
The White House pointed to a statement by Emily Horn, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, from Monday, regarding the telephone conversation between National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin's foreign policy advisor.
Sullivan "indicated the readiness of the US to act diplomatically through multiple channels, including bilateral engagement, the NATO-Russia Council and the OSCE," Hornova said. "He made it clear that any dialogue must be based on reciprocity and address our concerns about Russia's actions, and be held in full coordination with our European allies and partners."
The Kremlin spokesman also welcomed the talks, saying that the very fact that such readiness was shown was "good in itself." However, he warned that Russia does not want the talks to drag on and that "it is not interested in participating in a marathon".
Bonus video:
