MOSCOW (Dispatches) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that his country will take necessary measures, should the West fail to provide a constructive response to Moscow’s initiatives on guarantees of security.
“Should there be no constructive response, should the West continue its aggressive course, then, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said repeatedly, Moscow will take necessary response measures,” the Minister said. “In any case, everyone must consider the security of Russia and its citizens an absolute priority, and it will be ensured under any circumstances.”
On December 17 last year, the Russian Foreign Ministry published draft agreements on guarantees of security with the U.S. and NATO, which imply NATO’s non-expansion eastward, rejection of Ukraine’s accession to the alliance, as well as restrictions on the deployment of serious offensive weapons, including nuclear ones.

Anti-Putin Sanctions Are
‘Politically Destructive’

On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said U.S. calls for “anti-Putin” sanctions are politically destructive.
“It is not painful but it is politically destructive,” Peskov said.
Commenting on calls for freezing Putin’s assets, the official said that the Russian President keeps money in the Rossiya Bank, which is already under sanctions.
Earlier this month, U.S. President Joe Biden did not rule out imposing sanctions targeting President Putin personally. This question was also discussed in the U.S. Senate.
Biden was echoed by other Western leaders, who also have pledged “grave consequences” for Russia should it attack Ukraine.
Moscow has repeatedly slammed what it described as “anti-Russian hysteria” in the West, saying that it has no plans to invade any country and stressing the fact that NATO’s military build-up close to Russian borders was posing a threat to the country’s national security. Russia has also explained numerous times that it has the right to move its own army wherever it wants within its own borders and this should not be a matter of concern to anybody.

U.S, Allies Reportedly
Mull Sending Troops to
NATO Eastern Flank

The United States and a “handful of allies” are negotiating the possible deployment of as many as “thousands more troops” in NATO’s eastern flank as a “show of support” to Kiev against the supposed threat of Russian aggression, CNN reports, citing three U.S. officials said to be familiar with the content of the negotiations.
The crisis in Ukraine and months of claims by Western officials and media that Russia may be preparing to “invade” its neighbor have created divisions within NATO on the deployment of additional troops and military assistance to Kiev. Moscow, and now increasingly the Ukrainian government itself, have dismissed the “imminent invasion” claims.