Russia can't demand creation of '2nd-class' NATO allies - Stoltenberg

NATO sees Russia's openness to diplomacy next week as positive but the alliance cannot accept any creation of "second-class" allies that cannot be defended, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday after a meeting of foreign ministers.

"We are ready to engage in arms control with Russia, conventional and nuclear, but that has to be reciprocal," Stoltenberg said. "That's a different thing (from) imposing one-sided restrictions ... we can't end up in a situation where we have second-class NATO members where NATO as an alliance is not allowed to protect them."

Russia said in December it wanted a legally binding guarantee that NATO would give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine.