MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian diplomats and military will participate in talks with US officials in January over a list of security guarantees Moscow wants from Washington, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday .
The Russian foreign minister, who spoke in an interview broadcast live on the website of his ministry, said that these discussions would take place just after the holiday period in Russia on the occasion of the Orthodox New Year.
The re-entry after this holiday season must take place on January 10 in Russia.
The Kremlin spokesperson said on Monday that beyond bilateral talks with the United States, it was logical for Russia to also discuss its security requirements with NATO.
Russia announced on Sunday that it was examining a NATO proposal inviting it to begin talks on January 12 on its security expectations.
The Kremlin spokesman, who therefore ruled on Monday that such exchanges were justified, said that their terms were being defined via diplomatic channels.
In the context of strong diplomatic tensions between Moscow and Washington on the Ukrainian dossier, Russia has warned of the risk of a major confrontation with the West if the United States and its allies do not seriously consider bringing it security guarantees – in particular the pledge to cease all military activity in Ukraine and Eastern Europe and the pledge to end Alliance enlargement.
(Report Andrew Osborn, Anton Kolodyazhnyy and Anastasia Lyrchikova, written by Alexander Marrow; French version Myriam Rivet, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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