Russia to present draft deal on guarantees of NATO non-expansion eastward

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on Thursday that Moscow will present to the US and the EU a draft agreement about guarantees of NATO non-expansion to the country's borders.

Speaking at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Stockholm, Lavrov said the OSCE can play a "useful role" in this process.

"In dialogue with the United States and its allies, we will insist on working out agreements that exclude any further NATO advances to the east and the deployment of weapons systems threatening us in close proximity to Russian territory.

"We will make relevant proposals in the near future, we expect them to be seriously considered, without excuses, and we think that the OSCE can play a very useful role here," he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier instructed the Foreign Ministry to launch work with the US and its European allies on providing Russia with legally binding guarantees that NATO and its military infrastructure will not further expand eastward.