MOSCOW, 27 December 2021, (TON): Foreign Ministry said “Russia has received a NATO proposal to commence talks on Moscow's security concerns on Jan. 12 and is considering it.”

Russia, which has unnerved the West with a troop buildup near Ukraine, last week unveiled a wish list of security proposals it wants to negotiate, including a promise NATO would give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine.

Local media quoted the foreign ministry as saying "we have already received this (NATO) offer, and we are considering it.”

The United States and Ukraine say Russia may be preparing an invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbour. Russia denies that and says it is Ukraine's growing relationship with NATO that has caused the standoff to escalate. It has compared it to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when the world came to the brink of nuclear war.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia wanted to avoid conflict but needed an "immediate" response from the United States and its allies to its demands for security guarantees. Moscow has said it expects talks with US officials on the subject to start in January in Geneva.