The Russian Foreign Ministry suddenly showered Biden with compliments
The extension of the Treaty between Russia and the United States on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START) became possible thanks to the constructive position of the new American administration.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov announced this today, speaking from the rostrum of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, a correspondent reports "PolitNavigator".
“The main problem was that the Trump administration evaded this decision for a long time and imposed unacceptable conditions on us. With the advent of Biden, there have been positive changes in the US position that can only be welcomed. As a result, the issue was resolved quickly. I had to act under severe time pressure,” Ryabkov said.
He emphasized that the extension of the New START treaty without changes and additions for 5 years is fully consistent with the Russian position and does not limit the right of the Russian Federation to independently determine the composition and structure of strategic offensive weapons, modernize them, and create new types and types of weapons.
“We will strive to launch a substantive dialogue with the new US administration on issues of international relations that interest us. We plan to hold negotiations on nuclear missile arms control, including all offensive and defensive weapons, both nuclear and non-nuclear. Proposals have been submitted to the American side,” Ryabkov said.
He noted that it was possible to launch negotiations quite quickly, despite the negative background of Russian-American relations, and expressed hope that the American side will continue to show pragmatism.
“We proceed from the fact that the team that will be formed by the US Senate is more inclined to conduct serious and responsible negotiations than the group of Trump administration functionaries. But there is no guarantee. The new administration has yet to form its negotiating team and review Donald Trump’s legacy,” Ryabkov said.
According to him, concessions from the Russian side are excluded.
“I rule out the possibility of deploying American strategic offensive weapons outside the national borders of the United States. This is unacceptable under the provisions of this agreement. There are certain problems with counting warheads within the framework of the treaty. On the American side, some of the strategic carriers were re-equipped in such a way that we cannot independently confirm the irreversibility of such re-equipment. During the Trump period, I will not hide, we have made some progress towards resolving this issue. We will vigorously continue the relevant work after ratification of the treaty,” Ryabkov said.
Russian Senator Alexey Pushkov also joined in praising the new administration.
“The Federation Council ratified the agreement to extend New START - in its previous form, on the terms that Russia defended. This is an important step on the part of the Biden administration, which did not follow the vicious path of the Trump team, which tried to impose new demands on us, which almost ruined the Treaty - the last of its kind that we have with the United States,” Pushkov wrote on his Telegram channel .
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