The sides voiced support for the activity of the Normandy Quartet and discussed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for the Iranian nuclear program and issues on the bilateral Russian-German agenda.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a telephone conversation with Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock shared Russia’s first impressions of the US and NATO’s response to security guarantee proposals.

"Once again Lavrov drew attention to Russia’s initiatives for security guarantees in Europe and shared the first impressions of the United States’ and NATO’s response to these initiatives. He stressed the priority of NATO’s non-expansion and non-deployment of attack weapons threatening Russia," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement following a telephone conversation between the two ministers.

The sides voiced support for the activity of the Normandy Quartet for the promotion of a settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.

"Mutual support was expressed for efforts within the framework of the NATO format to promote the full implementation of the Minsk agreements on a settlement in the east of Ukraine," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for the Iranian nuclear program was one of the main issues discussed.

"The focus of attention was on proposals being put forward within the framework of the ongoing eighth round of the Vienna multilateral talks on the restoration of the full-scale implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for the Iranian nuclear program. Both sides stressed there was no alternative to further persistent diplomatic work on breathing a new life into the agreements signed in the Austrian capital in 2015," the Foreign Ministry said.

Lavrov and Baerbock touched upon some issues on the bilateral Russian-German agenda. Once again Lavrov called upon the German government to give up discriminatory actions in relation to the German language television channel RT.

The United States and NATO on Wednesday handed to Russia their written answers to Moscow’s security guarantee proposals. The US side asked Russia to refrain from making these documents public, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reviewed their highlights. As follows from their statements, the West failed to agree to any concessions of fundamental importance to Russia, but outlined prospects for further talks.

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