US and NATO 'offer Putin a deal not to deploy missiles in Ukraine in bid to defuse tensions, leaked documents reveal' as satellite images show increased Russian troop activity

Washington and its NATO allies have offered Moscow arms control and trust-building measures to defuse the Ukraine stand-off, according to copies of letters sent to Vladimir Putin that leaked today.

The proposals, set out in missives by NATO and the United States last month in response to Russian demands, remain firm on insisting that Ukraine and any other sovereign country has a right to apply to join the alliance.But the US response - leaked to Spanish media - suggests 'reciprocal commitments by both the United States and Russia to refrain from deploying offensive ground-launched missile systems and permanent forces with a combat mission in the territory of Ukraine'.

Both the US and NATO documents urge Russia to restore diplomatic ties with the alliance and to renew and renegotiate nuclear missile control treaties with the United States.

Moscow is urged to re-engage with the NATO-Russia council, a diplomatic body 'offering dialogue and partnership in place of conflict and distrust.'

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Satellite images have revealed how Russia is continuing to mass its forces near Ukraine, with pictures of Novoozernoye base in Crimea showing how tents housing soldiers have been added to an enclosure filled with tanks

A view of the Osipovichi training ground near Mogilev, in Belarus, shows Russian mobile missile launchers (centre) parked up alongside tents housing their crews (top) as war games in the region get underway

Russian battle groups are shown camped out in tents at the Pogonovo Training Area, just south of the city of Voronezh, which sits around 100 miles north of the Ukraine border

Tents and surrounding ground chewed up by vehicle tracks are seen at a Russian base in Angarsky, Crimea, on Tuesday

Tents and armoured vehicles are seen at Russia's Opuk Training Area in occupied Crimea on Tuesday

Rows of Russian armoured vehicles are pictured parked at a military base in Bakhchysarai, Crimea, on Tuesday

A NATO official refused to confirm the text, saying: 'We never comment on alleged leaks.' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was aware of the report but added: 'We didn't publish anything, and I don't want to comment on this.'

President Vladimir Putin's government has deployed a huge force of up to 130,000 troops backed by tanks and artillery near the Ukraine border and in Crimea, a Ukrainian region that Russia annexed in 2014.

The Kremlin has since demanded that NATO guarantee that Kiev never be allowed to join and that the alliance withdraw forces from eastern member states that were Soviet allies or republics during the Cold War.

Putin, in a rare statement on the crisis Tuesday, said diplomacy can still resolve the crisis but the West must start taking Russian security concerns seriously

Western allies have dismissed calls to slam shut NATO's door, but the leaked letters call for 'meaningful arms control discussions and dialogue with Russia on mutual transparency and confidence-building measures.'

'No other partner has been offered a comparable relationship or a similar institutional framework,' the allies said of the NATO-Russia council, in the letter released by El Pais.

'Yet Russia has broken the trust at the core of our cooperation and challenged the fundamental principles of the global and Euro-Atlantic security architecture,' it says.

The US document stresses: 'We are ready to consider arrangements or agreements with Russia on issues of bilateral concern, to include written, signed instruments, to address our respective security concerns.'

It suggests renewing the US-Russian Strategic Stability Dialogue on arms control agreements to 'limit ground-based intermediate and shorter-range missiles and their launchers'.

But it repeats Washington's warning that Russia is already in breach of the now suspended 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which the US withdrew from in 2019, accusing Moscow of deploying a banned type of missile.

And it warns: 'Further Russian increases in force posture or further aggression against Ukraine will force the United States and our Allies to strengthen our defensive posture.'

The leak emerged after Putin accused the US of trying to draw Russia into a war in Ukraine as a pretext for imposing harsh sanctions on his country.

The Russian president charged Washington with using Ukraine as an 'instrument' to bully Russia and 'contain' its development, while ignoring legitimate security fears.

Putin, who has rarely spoken since the Ukraine standoff began in November, said on Tuesday that he hopes a diplomatic solution to the crisis can still be found.

Troop tents and armoured vehicles are pictured at Russia's Yevpatoriya base in occupied Crimea on Tuesday

Tanks (centre, on top of raised earth mounds) are pictured on a firing range at Pogonovo, Russia, on January 26

A satellite picture shows Russian armoured forces massed at a base in Yelnya, around 150 miles from Ukraine, on January 19

Tanks and support vehicles are pictured in Russia's Yelna region in a satellite image taken on January 19

America is trying to draw Russia into a war in Ukraine as an excuse to slap the country with sanctions, Putin has claimed (pictured, Ukraine's territorial defence forces in training)

But, he added, that will only happen if the 'interests and security of all parties, including Ukraine, European nations and Russia' are respected.

Putin issued a rare statement on the crisis Tuesday, speaking after a meeting with Hungary's Viktor Orban - a member of NATO - in Moscow.

He said the Kremlin is still studying written responses that Washington and NATO gave to his security demands, but said it is clear that most of Russia's concerns are being ignored.

Putin argued that it's possible to negotiate an end to the standoff if the interests of all parties, including Russia's security concerns, are taken into account.

'I hope that we will eventually find a solution, although we realize that it's not going to be easy,' he said.

Putin said the Western allies' refusal to meet Russia's demands violates their obligations on the integrity of security for all nations.

He warned that a Ukrainian accession to NATO could lead to a situation where Ukraine launches military action to reclaim control over Russian-annexed Crimea or areas controlled by Russia-backed separatists in the country's east.

'Imagine that Ukraine becomes a NATO member and launches those military operations,' Putin said. 'Should we fight NATO then? Has anyone thought about it?'

Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 following the ouster of the country's Moscow-friendly president and later threw its weight behind rebels in Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland, triggering a conflict that has killed over 14,000 people.

Putin charged that while the US airs concerns about Ukraine's security, it is using the ex-Soviet country as an 'instrument' in its efforts to contain Russia.

He alleged that Washington may try to 'draw us into a military conflict and force its allies in Europe to impose the tough sanctions the U.S. is talking about now.'

Another option would be to 'draw Ukraine into NATO, deploy offensive weapons there' and encourage Ukrainian nationalists to use force to reclaim the rebel-held east or Crimea, 'drawing us into a military conflict.'

'We need to find a way to ensure interests and security of all parties, including Ukraine, European nations and Russia,' Putin said, emphasizing that the West needs to treat Russian proposals seriously to make progress.

He said French President Emmanuel Macron may soon visit Moscow as part of renewed diplomatic efforts following their call on Monday.

Boris Johnson speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine during a diplomatic visit on Tuesday

The UK has thrown its weight behind Ukraine since the crisis started, flying out anti-tank missiles and deploying extra forces to eastern Europe

Earlier this week, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov sent letters to the U.S. and other Western counterparts pointing out obligations signed by all members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Russia argues that NATO's expansion eastward has hurt Russia's security, violating the principle of 'indivisibility of security' endorsed by the OSCE in 1999 and 2010.

It says the U.S. and its allies have ignored the principle that the security of one nation should not be strengthened at the expense of others, while insisting on every nation's right to choose alliances.

In his letter, which was released by the foreign ministry, Lavrov said 'there must be security for all or there will be no security for anyone.'

In a separate call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Lavrov warned that Moscow will not allow Washington to 'hush up' the issue.

Blinken, meanwhile, emphasized 'the U.S. willingness, bilaterally and together with Allies and partners, to continue a substantive exchange with Russia on mutual security concerns.'

However, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken was resolute in 'the U.S. commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the right of all countries to determine their own foreign policy and alliances.'

Blinken 'urged immediate Russian de-escalation and the withdrawal of troops and equipment from Ukraine's borders,' Price said.

He reaffirmed that 'further invasion of Ukraine would be met with swift and severe consequences and urged Russia to pursue a diplomatic path.'

A Ukrainian soldier is seen patrolling a trench near the frontlines with Russian-backed rebels

T-64 tanks covered by snow stand at the depot site at the Tank Repair Plant in Kharkiv, Ukraine

A bullet riddled effigy of Russian President Vladimir Putin is coated by fresh snow at a frontline position in the Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine

A Belgian Air Force F-16 is seen at Amari Air Base, Estonia, after Russian aircraft flew into the country's airspace on TuesdaySenior State Department officials described the call as professional and 'fairly candid,' noting that if Russia wanted to prove it isn't going to invade Ukraine, it should withdraw its troops from the border and neighboring Belarus.

Shortly after speaking to Lavrov, Blinken convened a conference call with the secretary general of NATO, the EU foreign policy chief and the chairman-in-office of the OSCE as part of efforts to ensure that the allies are engaged in any further contacts with Russia.

Speaking to reporters at the United Nations, Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said the U.S. statement about its readiness for dialogue 'doesn't correlate' with Washington sending planeloads of military equipment to Ukraine.

'I don't know why the U.S. is escalating tensions and at the same time accusing Russia,' he said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Kyiv for scheduled talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Johnson said the U.K. has a package of measures including sanctions ready to go 'the moment the first Russian toecap crosses further into Ukrainian territory.'

'It is vital that Russia steps back and chooses a path of diplomacy, and I believe that is still possible,' Johnson said. 'We are keen to engage in dialogue, of course we are. But we have the sanctions ready.'

He said he would have a call with Putin on Wednesday, noting that the Russian leader was trying to 'impose a new Yalta, new zones of influence' in a reference to the 1945 deal between the allied powers.

'And it would not just be Ukraine that was drawn back into the Russian sphere of influence,' Johnson added.

In other developments, Biden was expected to nominate career foreign service officer Bridget Brink to assume the long-vacant diplomatic post of American ambassador to Ukraine, according to a U.S. official familiar with the decision.

Brink currently serves as the ambassador to Slovakia.+20