President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia wants to avoid conflict with Ukraine and the West, demanding an "immediate" response from the United States and its allies to Moscow's demand for security guarantees.
"This is not our (preferred) choice, we do not want this," Mr Putin said at his annual news conference when asked about the possibility of conflict with Ukraine.
The Russian leader added that his country had received a generally positive response to security proposals it handed to the United States this month and that negotiations would start early next year in Switzerland.
"I hope the development of the situation will proceed along that path," he said.
In a separate answer, Mr Putin grew more heated when recalling how NATO had "cheated" Russia with successive waves of expansion since the Cold War, and said Moscow needed an answer urgently.
"You must give us guarantees, and immediately - now," he said.
Russia rejects Ukrainian and US accusations that it may be preparing an invasion of Ukraine as early as next month by tens of thousands of Russian troops poised within reach of the border.
It says it needs pledges from the West - including a promise not to conduct NATO military activity in eastern Europe - because its security is threatened by Ukraine's growing ties with the western alliance and the possibility of NATO missiles being deployed against it on Ukrainian territory.
"We just directly posed the question that there should be no further NATO movement to the east. The ball is in their court, they should answer us with something," Mr Putin said.
He said it was impossible to have good relations with the current Ukrainian government and that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had come under the influence of "radical forces".
Ukraine says it is gearing up for a possible invasion by Russian troops and Mr Zelenskiy this week said he was ready to talk with Russia "in any format", which Moscow has rejected.
The UK Foreign Secretary hit out at the Kremlin's stance on Ukraine and military build-up near the country's border.
"I condemn the Kremlin's aggressive and inflammatory rhetoric against Ukraine and NATO," Liz Truss said in a statement, calling the build up of troops on the border of Ukraine and in Russian-annexed Crimea "unacceptable".
Ms Truss urged Russia to enter talks in a serious way to de-escalate the threat of conflict.
"The only way out of the current situation for Russia is through dialogue and I welcome the fact that Russia has signalled it is willing to enter talks in January," she said.
Putin says Russia not to blame for high European gas prices
The Russian President said it was unfair to blame Moscow for record-high natural gas prices in Europe as Gazprom was meeting all of its supply obligations.
Vladimir Putin said the Russian firm had to meet obligations under long-term deals before providing gas to spot markets, and the countries that had struck long-term contracts - such as Germany - were enjoying much lower prices and could even resell gas to neighbours profitably.
Europe has created its own gas problems and should resolve them itself, Mr Putin said, adding that he suspected some Russian gas piped to Germany was ultimately being resold to Ukraine.
