Russia wants to see results from high-stakes talks with the U.S. and its allies over security in Europe in as little as a matter of weeks, despite the seemingly wide gap that currently divides the parties, Moscow’s top negotiator said.

“The president said the result is needed immediately and that’s not a figure of speech,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday in a telephone interview ahead of meetings with the U.S. set for Jan. 9-10 in Geneva. “We can’t even talk about months here, let alone years,” he added, declining to specify a deadline.

The U.S. agreed to the talks after Russia built up thousands of tanks and troops near the border with Ukraine, stoking western fears of an invasion. President Vladimir Putin demanded NATO give binding assurances that it would stop eastward expansion and undertake a sweeping pullback from Russia’s borders, terms that the U.S. and its allies have already said are unacceptable.