KYIV, Dec 22 - Russia on Wednesday said it will engage the U.S. in security talks at the start of the new year to discuss guarantees it wants from the West as tensions continue to escalate over Ukraine, Fox News reported.

"It is agreed that at the very start of next year bilateral contact between American negotiators and ours will become the first round (of talks)," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a Wednesday press event, according to Reuters.