Euro News
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Washington’s willingness to discuss Russia’s security proposals aimed at curbing NATO’s eastward expansion was “positive”, as fears mount in the West over a major military escalation in Ukraine.
The Kremlin has grown increasingly insistent that the West and NATO are encroaching dangerously close to Russia’s borders.
Moscow presented the West with sweeping security demands last week, saying NATO must not admit new members and barring the United States from establishing new bases in former Soviet countries.
At his annual conference in Moscow, Putin urged the West to “immediately” meet Russia’s demand for security guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine and the deployment of the military alliance’s weapons there.
“Without any tricks, we just directly posed the question that there should be no further NATO movement to the East, the ball is in their court, they should answer us with something. In this regard, I would like to stress that on the whole, we have seen a positive reaction so far, our American partners tell us that they are ready to start this discussion at the very beginning of the [next] year in Geneva,” Putin said…
