about common ground. i think as you sort of frame the moods and attitudes going into this meeting, particularly from the russian side, the fact that they want this written response from the united states to their security proposals or demands as they're seen, the kremlin spokesman said, look, we know we're not going to get that in this meeting here, but we're still hoping for it in coming days. and i think that kind of language speaks to the diplomacy that's still in play here. yet russia's position remains very clear and very firm and very tough for nato to digest. not just what fred was explaining, but we heard from the foreign ministry issuing a statement in response to a question last week. and that was both bulgaria and romania that have nato forces and nato missile defense systems and the dutch have offered to