MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow expects NATO and the United States will take seriously its proposals on security assurances. "We will do everything we can to guarantee that we are understood," Lavrov said in an interview with Russian TV network. "Considering the efforts we are presently doing to assure our defense capability, I hope that we will be taken seriously."

According to reports, Russia recently delivered a draft agreement to NATO and a draft treaty to the United States, both on security guarantees in Europe, for Western countries to review. 

Lavrov noted that a number of meetings between Russia's and the United States' foreign policy advisers have taken place."The first round of bilateral talks between us and our American negotiators was agreed to take place at the very beginning of next year," he said.  Nonetheless, with NATO's infrastructure reaching Russia's borders, Lavrov stressed that Moscow demands legally enforceable guarantees.

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