Ryabkov: The United States sent Russia proposals on arms control

Russia received proposals from the United States on strategic stability and arms control. About it stated Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov, writes Interfax.

The document was transmitted on paper, but in an unofficial form. According to Ryabkov, the Russian side is now analyzing the proposals in an interdepartmental format.

The deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified that the document does not contain anything new, but only brings together previously voiced theses.

According to Ryabkov, the United States proposes to discuss strategic stability and arms control “in isolation from everything that is happening.” The Russian side is not ready for this.

“We believe that without changes in the deeply, fundamentally hostile course towards Russia on the part of the United States, a return to dialogue on strategic stability, including the topic of strategic offensive arms and other topics, in the form that was previously practiced, is simply impossible,” Ryabkov emphasized.

The Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty (START) was signed in 2010 by Russian and US Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama. The document talked about reducing strategic nuclear forces (SNF) to the level of 700 deployed and a total of 800 deployed and non-deployed strategic delivery vehicles. The agreement provided for detailed inspections at the sites of production and deployment of strategic nuclear weapons carriers and the exchange of telemetry data during testing of new types of missiles.

In February 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in his message that Moscow had decided to suspend the New START Treaty. He motivated this decision by the fact that in the conditions of a special military operation, US inspections of Russian enterprises and other facilities could be used to the detriment of Russia’s interests.

On May 18, a group of Republican senators contributed a bill on the country’s withdrawal from the New START Treaty has been submitted to the US Congress. According to their assessments, President Joe Biden’s decision to extend the treaty with Russia was a mistake and constrained the United States, and also “did not provide security for America and its allies.”

On May 16, Ryabkov said that Russia would no longer publish data on its strategic nuclear forces, even after the publication of data by its American colleagues. As of June 1, Washington stopped transmitting information to Moscow about the status and location of its strategic weapons covered by the treaty and revoked the visas issued to Russian specialists for inspections.