Lewis Hamilton

"Negotiations were initiated in order to get specific answers to specific fundamental questions raised. It is on these fundamental issues that disagreements have been recorded," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Thursday. "This is bad. This can only be counted in the negative points of the two rounds that took place," he added.

"This was not an easy discussion," he told journalists after the four-hour meeting on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported. "But that is exactly why this meeting was so important. We had a very serious and direct exchange on the situation in and around Ukraine. And the implications for European security. There are significant differences between NATO allies and Russia on these issues. Our differences will not be easy to bridge."

While the US side called the latest talks between the two major global powers "our diplomacy in pursuit of a de-escalation with Russia", the Russian side called it "security guarantees negotiations", reports Xinhua news agency. Like the two previous bilateral US-Russia Strategic Stability Dialogues in Geneva last year, the American delegation was headed by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, while the Russian side is headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

Addressing a press conference following the extraordinary meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Stoltenberg on Friday said that the meeting addressed Russia's military build-up around Ukraine and the implications for European security, Xinhua news agency reported. He said Russia's actions "seriously undermine the security order" in Europe. "NATO remains committed to our dual-track approach to Russia: strong deterrence and defense, combined with meaningful dialogue."

"We are here first to reaffirm the European Union's full support of Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity," Borrell told reporters during a media briefing. The EU has been providing political, financial and economic support for Kiev, Borrell said, noting that the bloc's Association Agreement with Ukraine is "the most comprehensive agreement it has with any other third country in the world", reports Xinhua news agency.

"He (Biden) reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the White House said in a statement. President Biden, after his new year's eve telephonic conversation with President Putin, had told reporters that America will impose crippling economic sanctions on Russia in the event of its invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. will also hold official-level talks with Russia on January 10 in Geneva to advance the resolution according to the principles of the Minsk Resolution.

"We faced colossal challenges, but we learned to live in such harsh conditions to solve complex problems. We were able to do this thanks to our solidarity," Putin said on Friday. "The most important thing is that we overcame all the difficulties of the outgoing year together ... There are still a lot of unsolved problems, but this year we passed with dignity," he added.

The Russian President has denied all allegations claiming that Russia plans to invade Ukraine. President Putin has instead demanded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to abandon all military activity in Eastern Europe and not admit Ukraine as a member, as per reports.

"We will do everything to make sure we are understood, considering the actions we are currently taking to ensure our defense capability, I hope that we will be taken seriously," Lavrov said during an interview for RT. Russia has recently sent a draft agreement to NATO and a draft treaty to the United States both on security guarantees in Europe for the Western countries to consider, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to a Kremlin press release, Putin on Tuesday informed Scholz of Russian proposals for long-term and legally binding security guarantees that prohibit the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from expanding eastwards and deploying offensive weapons near Russia, Xinhua news agency reported.