In the midst of serious tensions in the Ukraine conflict, Russia wants to stay away from the Munich Security Conference this time.

No representatives of the Russian government would attend for "various reasons," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in Moscow on Wednesday.

The world's most important security policy expert meeting has lost its objectivity.

"We regret to say that the conference has increasingly turned into a transatlantic forum in recent years," said Zakharova.

Russia is demanding binding security guarantees from the West.

NATO and the United States had already rejected central Moscow concerns in letters to Moscow, but had shown themselves willing to talk.

Specifically, Russia is demanding an end to NATO's eastward expansion, which it sees as a threat to its security.

American Vice President Kamala Harris and Chancellor Olaf Scholz, along with around 35 other heads of state and government, are expected to attend the conference in Munich from February 18 to 20.

Two years ago, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov traveled to the meeting.