Russia open to dialogue on stabilizing strategic stability — MFA

MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/. Russia remains open to dialogue on identifying political and diplomatic ways to stabilize strategic stability, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with News.ru .

He recalled that, had Washington not rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s initiative for the parties to preserve the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) legacy through voluntary self-restraints, the current situation, in which the strategic sphere lacks an adequate level of predictability and restraint, could have been avoided.

"At the same time, we remain open to exploring political and diplomatic ways to comprehensively stabilize this area through dialogue-based solutions - naturally, if appropriate conditions are created and our opponents demonstrate readiness for equal and comprehensive engagement based on mutual respect for the parties' interests and consideration of all factors affecting strategic stability," Ryabkov said.

He added that when the Russian president proposed the initiative of a "post-New START," he emphasized "the importance of considering the resumption of strategic dialogue with the United States in the context of the entire range of efforts to normalize Russia-US relations and eliminate fundamental security-related contradictions."

"This is our principled position, and it remains unchanged," Ryabkov concluded.