US Had 'Serious Proposals' on Security for Russia, Wants Response in Kind, Pentagon Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United States had some "serious proposals" on security for Russia and would like Russia to respond in kind on that, Press Secretary for the United States Department of Defenсe John Kirby said.

"We have made serious proposals, obviously to be met by Russians in a reciprocal way. But we’ve made serious proposals about ways that we can change things that we are doing in Europe to try to address the situation there and to try to address some of Mr Putin’s concerns. Obviously some things are clearly off the table but we’ve made serious proposals and we want Russians to respond in kind to that," Kirby told Fox News Sunday.

At the same time, the US has said that "the issue of Ukraine’s membership in NATO that’s an issue for Ukraine and for NATO. This is not something that Mr. Putin can simply institute a veto over," Kirby said.

Earlier in the day, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said the West's response to Russia's security proposals was "an answer for the sake of an answer," adding that NATO countries were evading the conversation about non-divisibility of security.