FILE PIC: Russian President Vladimir Putin. /AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the U.S. and other NATO countries are yet unwilling to perceive his country's key security demands adequately, he spoke after talks with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
He added that at the request of his Belarusian counterpart, he briefed him on the latest contacts with the leaders of Western states on long-term and legally binding security guarantees for Russia from the U.S. and NATO. Putin said that he considered "it quite natural that the Belarusian allies are also concerned over this issue," Russia's state news agency TASS reported on Friday.
"We discussed the situation developing with regard to Russia's demands to the West whose key points stipulate that NATO should abandon its designs on eastward expansion, assume the commitment of not deploying strike weapons near the Russian borders and return to the alliance's military potential and infrastructure in Europe as of 1997 when the Russia-NATO Founding Act was signed. As I have already spoken about, the United States and other members of the alliance are yet unwilling, unfortunately, to perceive these three core elements of our initiative adequately," Putin said.
Meanwhile, the Russian President pointed out that the Western counterparts formulated a whole number of ideas on European security, intermediate- and shorter-range missiles and military transparency as the issues that Russia also favors discussing.
"And we are ready to move along the negotiating track on condition that all the issues will be discussed comprehensively, without being separated from the key Russian proposals whose implementation is a top priority for us," the Russian leader stressed.
On the same day, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) they would organize the evacuation of civilians to Russia amid the escalation of the situation in Donbas.
Russia's southern Rostov Region has reported that it is ready to receive Donbas residents. Meanwhile, the Kiev side keeps denying reports of pending offensive operations in Donbas, TASS reported.
(With input from agencies)