After Moscow listed demands to end NATO's expansion, the United States and Russia will hold much-anticipated talks on European security and Ukraine conflict in January.
A spokesman for the US National Security Council told AFP on condition of anonymity that the talks with Russia will take place on January 10.
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov confirmed the date on Tuesday and said they would take place in Geneva, where US President Joe Biden and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met for their first summit in June.
The Kremlin has grown increasingly insistent that the West and NATO are dangerously close to Russia's borders.
Moscow presented to the West sweeping security demands, saying NATO must not admit new members and barring the US from establishing new bases in former Soviet republics.
The National Security Council said the United States looks forward to engaging with Russia.
Russia can put its concerns on the table and put its concerns on the table with Russia's activities when we sit down to talk. Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe OSCE, which includes the United States, will meet January 13, and the Russian and NATO representatives are expected to meet January 12.
The talks come after weeks of increasing tensions, with Washington accusing Russia of massing tens of thousands of troops around ex-Soviet Ukraine and plotting a winter invasion.
The January 10 meeting will be part of the Strategic Security Dialogue initiative launched by Biden and Putin at their June summit.
A senior White House official said that the talks would cover the standoff over Ukraine, where Russia has deployed a large force on the border, despite the fact that the format is mostly consecrated to resuscitating post-Cold War nuclear arms control treaties.
The talks between Moscow and the OSCE's Permanent Council are scheduled to focus on Ukraine at the NATO-Russia Council meeting.
The OSCE was founded during the Cold War as a forum between Russia and the West.
Ryabkov said Moscow expects the talks with the US to focus on Russia's security demands.
On January 10 will be the main day for bilateral Russian-American consultations, which we hope will transform into negotiations on our draft agreements, Ryabkov told Russian news agency TASS.
It is impossible to come to an agreement in one day, but we can't drag out the process. The issue is very urgent and very serious. Ukraine is trying to break out of Moscow's influence and join the NATO alliance.
Russia already occupies a majority of its neighbour in the Crimean peninsula and is accused of fomenting a separatist pro-Moscow rebellion in the industrial east of the country.
The deployment by Russia of tens of thousands of troops to the border has sparked fears in Kiev and among its Western allies of a wider war, possibly including further seizures of Ukrainian territory.
Putin denies planning to attack the neighbouring country, saying the troop movements are to defend Russia against an encroaching Western military.
The United States and its European partners have threatened to impose harsh economic sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine, while also offering to hold negotiations.
The National Security Council said Ukraine's interests would not be ignored in cutting any deal with Russia.
The spokesperson said that negotiations will not include our allies and partners without our allies and partners, including Ukraine.
President Biden's approach to Ukraine has been clear and consistent : unite the alliance behind two tracks - deterrence and diplomacy. We are unified as an alliance on the consequences Russia would face if it moves on Ukraine. There was no immediate word on who would represent the two sides on January 10.