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© ReutersRussian and US state flags fly near a factory in Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad Region, Russia. Contacts between Moscow and Washington on the issue of strategic stability are formally 'frozen,' foreign ministry says.
Contacts have begun between Russia and the United States on the issue of security guarantees demanded by the former and there is a possibility that the sides will reach an understanding, the RIA news agency quoted on Tuesday a Russian diplomat as saying.

Russia has yet to decide what steps it will take if the Washington-led NATO bloc refuses to consider its position, senior security negotiator Konstantin Gavrilov said, but Brussels understands that Moscow is not bluffing.

Russia has demanded guarantees that NATO will not expand to Ukraine or deploy weapons and troops there, despite Kiev's aspirations to join the group and complaints that Russian troops amassed near its border signal a threat to invade.