Deputy foreign ministers will lead security talks between the United States and Russia next month. It concerns the Russian Sergei Ryabkov and the American Wendy Sherman, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The already tense relationship between Washington and Moscow is currently under additional pressure due to a Russian troop build-up in the border area with Ukraine. There are fears of a Russian invasion of that Eastern European country in the West. Russia says it has the right to move troops within its own territory as it sees fit.
Ryabkov and Sherman meet on January 10 in Geneva, Switzerland. Russia has announced that it will ask for hard security guarantees. Namely, a spokeswoman for the ministry said that NATO will not expand further east and that weapons systems that could pose a threat to Russia are not deployed near our border.
Summit talks between Russia and NATO are also on the agenda in January. That must take place on January 12 in Brussels. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Joe Biden have already called each other on Thursday.