U.S. Envoy Hands Over Written Responses To Russia's Security Demands

Russia's Foreign Ministry says U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan has handed over Washington's written responses to an array of security demands that Moscow has made of the West.

Russian news agencies said Sullivan left the Foreign Ministry building in Moscow in the evening of January 26 after staying inside for around 30 minutes. They said the diplomat declined to make any comment.

Russia, which has alarmed Kyiv and its Western backers with a military buildup near Ukraine, laid out its demands in late 2021, including written guarantees that NATO will halt any eastward expansion.

Washington and NATO have already made clear that some of the demands are nonstarters, and stressed that sovereign states have a right to choose their own alliances.

Russia denies it is preparing to invade Ukraine, but has amassed more than 100,000 troops, according to Western intelligence, near the border with Ukraine and has been holding a series of land and sea military exercises, sparking concerns it may be preparing for a further incursion into the country after illegally annexing Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg are expected to deliver remarks to the press later on January 26.

With reporting by Reuters and TASS