Afrasianet - The Russian Foreign Ministry published its response to the US message regarding security guarantees, as Russia confirmed that the US administration did not show a constructive position on this file.

The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that it had delivered Moscow's response to the United States' letter on the file of security guarantees to the American ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, who visited the ministry's headquarters to receive the document. "We affirm that the US side did not provide a response based on the main components of the draft agreement with the United States, which was prepared by the Russian side, on security guarantees," the response said. And the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained: "

It is about giving up the continued expansion of NATO, withdrawing the so-called Bucharest formula, which says that Ukraine and Georgia will become members of NATO, and not establishing military bases in the territories of the countries that were formerly included in the Soviet Union ...These provisions have of fundamental importance for the Russian Federation.

The escalating military activities of the United States and the West in the immediate vicinity of Russia's borders are causing concern, especially at a time when our red lines and our fundamental interests in security, as well as Russia's sovereign right to protect them, continue to be ignored," the ministry stressed.

The document stressed that "demands directed in the form of warnings to withdraw forces from certain areas within the Russian territory, which are accompanied by threats of tougher sanctions, are unacceptable and undermine the prospects for reaching real agreements."

In its response, Russia warned that the United States' unwillingness to negotiate basic terms of security guarantees would prompt it to respond. "Russia, in circumstances where the United States and its allies are not ready to negotiate an agreement on strict and legally binding guarantees of our security, will be forced to respond, including by taking measures of a military-technical nature," she said. In its response, Russia reiterated that "there is no Russian invasion of Ukraine taking place, which the United States has been talking about with its allies at the official level since the fall of last year, and there are no plans to launch it."

"For this reason, allegations about Russia's responsibility for the escalation can only be assessed as an attempt to exert pressure and remove value from Russia's proposal on security guarantees," she explained.

She stressed: "It is extremely important for de-escalation around Ukraine to implement a set of the following steps, namely, forcing the authorities in Kiev to implement the Minsk package (to resolve the Ukrainian crisis), stopping arms supplies to Ukraine, withdrawing all Western advisers and trainers from the country, and abandoning any joint military exercises by NATO countries. With the Ukrainian armed forces, all weapons previously supplied to Kiev should be withdrawn from Ukrainian territory.

Russia called "the United States and NATO to return to the implementation of international obligations in the field of ensuring peace and security." She added: "We are waiting for the members of the alliance to concrete proposals on the content and formulas for legal fixation in order for NATO to abandon the continuation of its eastward expansion."

Russia indicated, however, that its proposals on security guarantees come in one package and must be considered without separating their components. And she continued: "At the same time, we once again draw the attention of the American side to the fact that Russia has proposed in the two presented documents (on the two agreements with the United States and NATO) on security guarantees to take the path of a comprehensive, long-term settlement of the unacceptable situations that continue to form in the Euro-Atlantic region." And she added: "It is all about creating a stable basis for the security structure in the form of an agreement that provides for NATO's abandonment of any subsequent measures that harm Russia's security.

This is still an absolute necessity for us." Russia warned: "In the absence of such a solid base, coherent measures to control arms and reduce military risks, which ensure restraint and predictability in military activities in single directions, will not be stable in the long term even if they can be reached."