US Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman confirmed that she has said in her contacts with Russian counterparts that she “understands Russia’s legitimate security concerns and we are ready to take action to address them.”

“The United States actively participated in the diplomatic process with Russia ahead of the start of a special military operation in Ukraine,” she said at a high-level forum between the US and the European Union on the Ukraine crisis. I told them that we understand that they have a number of legitimate security concerns and that there are many ways we can fix them.”

Sherman stressed that “countries must make their own decision about whether to join the alliance, and other countries cannot make such decisions on their behalf.”

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that “the United States will not be able to force Russia to follow its own rules by supplying weapons to Ukraine.”