MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - The United States has not given a constructive reply to Russia's proposals on security guarantees, and in the absence of the U.S. willingness to reach compromises, Moscow might resort to military-technical measures, the Russian written reply to the U.S. concerning proposals on security guarantees says.
"We can acknowledge that the U.S. side did not give a constructive answer to the basic elements of a draft treaty with the U.S. on security guarantees drawn up by the Russian side," the document circulated on Thursday, and translated from Russian by Interfax, reads.
"In the absence of the American side's willingness to negotiate firm and legally binding guarantees of our security by the U.S. and its allies, Russia will have to respond, including through implementing military-technical measures," it said.
"This implies that NATO shall not expand further, shall revoke the Bucharest formula that Ukraine and Georgia will become NATO members, shall not set up military bases in countries that earlier made up the USSR and are not members of the alliance, including as concerns the use of their infrastructure for any military activity, and shall bring the NATO military capability, including attack capability, and infrastructure back to the state in which they were in 1997," it said.
"These provisions are of fundamental significance to the Russian Federation," it said.
In addition, the document points out that, in their response to Moscow's proposals, their package nature "has been ignored, while some of their 'convenient' clauses were selected and 'reshaped' to the advantage of the U.S. and its allies."
"This approach, as well as the relevant rhetoric of American officials, reinforces legitimate doubts about Washington's true commitment to improving the European security situation," it says.