US, MOSCOW TO HOLD KEY SECURITY DIALOGUES

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Moscow and the US negotiators will hold talks in January on reducing the worsening tensions between the two nations, a media report said.

Confirming the recent remarks of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Moscow-Washington will hold bilateral talks early next year, Lavrov in an interview with RT TV on Wednesday said that both countries were planning to hold talks in January. A series of security proposals were put forward to the US by Russia earlier this month.

Referring to the US reaction to these proposals, Lavrov said that it is businesslike on the side of our American colleagues.

“There was a series of conversations on the level of the presidents’ foreign policy aides, and, as a result of the contact, there was an agreement on organisational models for future work,” RT TV quoted him as saying.

The bilateral discussions would be held in early 2022 via the NATO-Russia Council and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

“I think you’ll see relatively early in the new year, engagements in all those areas to see if we can advance the differences diplomatically,” Lavrov added.

This came on the backdrop of the growing tensions around Ukraine, as the West has accused Russia of allegedly deploying troops near the Ukrainian border in preparation for an invasion.But, Moscow has repeatedly denied those accusations and it pointed to NATO’s military activity near Russian borders.Moscow has also called these activities a threat to Russia’s national security and stressed that it has the right to move forces within its own territory.

Earlier, on Tuesday, spokesman for the US State Department, Ned Price stated that “Russia and its proxies, not Ukraine or the US, are to blame for the escalation of tensions.”