MOSCOW. Feb 15 (Interfax) - Moscow cannot turn a blind eye to the United States and NATO's loose interpretation of the principles of equal security, and it views Russia's deterrence by force as a threat, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"Russia cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that the U.S and the North Atlantic Alliance interpret the key principles of equal and indivisible security, which are entrenched in many common European documents, quite loosely and in their favor," Putin said following talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday.
This principle includes not only a provision of the right to choose the ways to ensure one's security freely and join any military unions and alliances, but also obligations not to strengthen one's own security at the expense of other countries' security, Putin said.
"We view the deterrence of Russia by force as a direct and immediate threat to our national security, and the legal agreements based on the drafts we had submitted [on security guarantees] are aimed to alleviate it," Putin said.
The president pointed out that the U.S. and other NATO members' responses to Russia's proposals on security guarantees, "in our view, do not meet the aforementioned three basic Russian demands, however, the answers given still include, as the Russian foreign minister reported to me yesterday, a number of points which we are not just open to discuss, but which we had effectively proposed to our partners in the past."
These proposals concerned European security, certain weapon systems, such as medium- and shorter-range missiles, and military transparency, he said.
"We are ready to continue this joint work," Putin said.