MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/: The US and NATO did not take Russia’s principal concerns in their responses to Moscow’s proposals on guarantees of security, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out during his phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, the Kremlin said in its statement Friday.
The issue of long-term, legally binding guarantees of security for Russia became the key topic of discussion. The Russian leader pointed out that Moscow will carefully examine the response to its draft agreements, received from the US and NATO on January 26, and will decide on its further actions.
"It was pointed out that both US and NATO responses failed to take into account such principal Russian concerns as prevention of NATO expansion, rejection of deployment of offensive weapons near Russian borders, and reverting of NATO military potential and infrastructure to the 1997 positions, when the Russia-NATO Founding Act was signed," the statement says.
The Kremlin noted that the West also ignored another key issue: "how the US and its allies intend to implement the principle of indivisible security, cemented in basic OSCE and Russia-NATO documents, which implies that nobody can reinforce their security at the expense of security of other states."
The two presidents also agreed to continue the dialogue on the entire complex of issues of European security.
"In regards to France’s presidency in the Council of the European Union in the first half of this year, Marcon informed Putin about Paris’ approached on the common European track. The sides agree to continue the Russian-French dialogue on the entire complex of issues of the European security," the statement says,
The leaders also discussed some practical aspects of bilateral cooperation, including in nuclear energy.
"The presidents of Russia and France agreed to stay in close contact," the Kremlin said.
