Russia to Respond if West Rejects European Security Guarantees, OSCE Envoy Says

VIENNA (Sputnik) - Russia will have to take measures if the United States and NATO fail to provide a constructive response on Russian-requested security guarantees within a reasonable time, Russian Permanent Representative to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Alexander Lukashevich, said on Wednesday.

"If we do not receive a constructive response to the proposals we made within a reasonable time, and the aggressive policy towards Russia continues, [we] will have no choice but to draw our own conclusion and take all necessary measures to maintain the strategic balance of power and prevent unacceptable threats to our national security," Lukashevich told the OSCE Permanent Council.

News briefing of Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich

© Sputnik / Kirill Kallinikov

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He added that "any attempts to drag on the process of constructive negotiations on security guarantees in the framework of Russia-US and Russia-NATO dialogues or to narrow it down to the pointless exchange of positions over and over again will rife with the inevitable deterioration of the security situation for all countries with no exception".

Russia has presented draft agreements on security guarantees to NATO and the US last month. They included NATO not expanding eastwards, not deploying short- and intermediate-range missiles capable of reaching each other borders, and prevention of Ukraine and other former Soviet republics from joining the bloc.