International Desk:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Moscow did not want war with Ukraine and spoke positively about security proposals received from the United States.

The U.S. proposals were better than proposals received from NATO, said Lavrov, who said he expected to meet U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the next couple of weeks.

Lavrov said President Vladimir Putin would decide how to respond to the proposals.

On Thursday, the US and NATO responded to Russia’s sweeping security demands that were raised in December after Moscow built up troops near the border with Ukraine.

Primarily, Russia wants NATO to commit to permanently blocking Ukraine from becoming a member of the alliance.

Russia said the replies gave it little cause for optimism because there was “no positive response to the main question”, but could serve as a starting point for talks on “secondary questions”. -Reuters, Al-Jazeera