The text of the interview was published on the & nbsp; website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.
& laquo; Course towards & nbsp; pulling Kiev into & nbsp; NATO, with & nbsp; the prospect of attack missile systems appearing at & nbsp; our borders, creates unacceptable threats to the security of Russia, provoking serious military risks for & nbsp; all parties involved, up to & nbsp; a large-scale conflict in & nbsp; Europe & raquo;, & nbsp; & mdash; Lavrov said.
On December 17 & nbsp; the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs published draft agreements with & nbsp; the United States and & nbsp; agreements with & nbsp; NATO on & nbsp; guarantees and & nbsp; security. The documents imply a refusal to & nbsp; the alliance's refusal to deploy intermediate and & nbsp; short-range ground-based missiles outside its territory and & nbsp; refusal to & nbsp; expand the organization's military bloc to the east.
On December 21 & nbsp; US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that & nbsp; Washington in & nbsp; response to & nbsp; Russia's proposals on & nbsp; security guarantees in & nbsp; Europe will present its own list of concerns. On December 23 & nbsp; NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that & nbsp; NATO never & nbsp; made promises not & nbsp; to expand to & nbsp; East. Each country has the right to join the & nbsp; alliance, which is & nbsp; spelled out in & nbsp; several documents.