NATO Leaves Unanswered All Deescalation Proposals Previously Made by Moscow, Diplomat Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - NATO has left unanswered all proposals for de-escalation previously made by Moscow, the alliance has not presented any concrete and serious initiatives to resume the work of the NATO-Russia Council, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Friday.

"We have not received any concrete serious proposals from NATO. All our previously made proposals for de-escalation remained unanswered," Grushko said.

Late on Thursday, NATO expressed its readiness to work on confidence-building measures with Russia if Moscow makes concrete moves on the de-escalation of tensions.

On Wednesday, at a meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and US Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried, Russia officially handed two documents over to the United States - a proposed treaty and a draft agreement that includes Russian ideas on security guarantees. The Kremlin said that the Russian Federation is ready to immediately begin negotiations on these proposals.

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously stated the need to immediately begin negotiations with a view to working out clear international legal agreements which exclude any further NATO advance to the east as well as prohibit the deployment of weapons that threaten Russia in neighboring states, primarily in Ukraine. Moscow believes that it is necessary to officially disavow the decision of the 2008 NATO Bucharest summit that Ukraine and Georgia will become NATO members, as it contradicts the commitment of the leaders of all OSCE participant states not to strengthen their security at the expense of the security of others.