Vladimir Putin's government put on the table a series of demands for the United States and the NATO security council to avoid getting closer to their borders and refrain from installing weapons systems in Ukraine and other Eastern European countries.

Maria Zajárova, Russian Foreign Relations spokesperson, was the one who made the announcement about the official delivery of the document, which reached the hands of the U.S. Undersecretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Karen Donfried, in the middle of the meetings held with the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and the Deputy Head of the Administration of the Russian Presidency.

Finally, these conversations, agreed on by the two governments, began after a video call held by Biden and Putin at the beginning of December.

The dialogue, which takes place amid growing tension in the area, seeks to put an end to any threat of armed conflict in Eastern Europe.

• In 2008, NATO offered Georgia and Ukraine to be members. Russia is strongly opposed the move and has demanded the invitation be definitively withdrawn.
• Moscow also wants the Atlantic Alliance to stop its military maneuvers near Russian borders, while seeking to reach an agreement on the minimum distance of approach, among others, of ships and aircrafts from both nations.
• Putin's administration invites the restart of discussions between the defense ministers of Russia, the U.S. and NATO.
• The Kremlin also urges the United States to join the unilateral Russian move to deploy short- and medium-range missiles in Europe, as well as to establish verification strategies.

It is important to remember that both, Washington and Moscow, abandoned a prior treaty in 2019.

The Chinese government has sided with the Russians amid the standoffs, stressing that they understand Russia's concern about the threat from the United States that seeks to impose its policies and ideology at all costs.

Putin, who held a video call with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Wednesday, Dec. 15, shared his "desire" to find a positive response from the U.S. and other NATO members.

While these demands of Moscow are starting to avoid any type of incident on the border between Russia and Ukraine, it is expected that on Friday, more details will be delivered on the proposal by the Russian government.