HELSINKI, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Friday gave a cool response to Russia's proposal of a new security pact for Europe, saying there is no need for a new organization to replace NATO.

The institutions for European security like NATO, the European Union and the OSCE (the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe) "work well", (and) there is no need to change, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said at a press conference on the sideline of the foreign ministers' meeting of the OSCE.

Fried said the enlargement of NATO and the EU was helpful to the stability in Central and Eastern Europe, which was "a good thing" to Russia.

"No one is threatening Russia, we want partnership with Russia," Fried noted.

Russia accuses the U.S. of using the NATO expansion to encroach on its power territory, to encircle Russia with weapons and draw new dividing lines in Europe. In response, Russia suspended the implementation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) in November last year.

This June, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev blamed NATO as the Cold War relic, proposing new European security arrangements including a new treaty on European security.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the presidency of the European Union, agreed to discuss the proposal within the OSCE as the first step.

On Thursday at the OSCE meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov outlined Russia's proposals for the new security arrangements and the ministers discussed the issue over the luncheon.

"It was an interesting discussion," Fried said, but he rejected any idea of holding a summit on the proposal in the near future. "There was little support for ill-prepared meeting at summit level," he said.

However, he said the U.S. would continue discussion on Russia's proposal.

Earlier on Thursday, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza directly rejected Russia's proposal.

"There is no need for some new architecture and it is pretty transparent, I think, what that's all about," Bryza told the press on the sidelines of the OSCE meeting.

"I think it's about looking for an alternative to NATO which has worked so well. NATO makes Russia uncomfortable," Bryza added.
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