Speaking at the Cosmos Club in Washington, Russian Ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov presented his country’s proposal for positive cooperation with the United States. The written text of his speech are posted on the Russian Embassy website, making the following points. [https://washington.mid.ru/ru/press-centre/news/ambassador_anatoly_antonov_s_remarks_at_the_cosmos_club_on_the_current_state_of_russia_u_s_relations/]
Antonov said that Russia perceives “positively the signals from the White House and the State Department on the plans to restore the dialogue on strategic stability and the possibility of further dialogue on arms control.” He then presented Russia’s proposals for cooperation, the essence of which “is to elaborate a ‘security equation’ which would take into account emerging military technologies and other factors affecting strategic stability. At the same time, it is important to preserve all the positive heritage accumulated between our countries over the last 50 years.”
Voicing criticism of the Biden Administration’s “two-track approach” that has emerged since Joe Biden took office, Antonov said: “It implies cooperation with us on the issues of American interest. At the same time the concept of deterring Russia will be used as much as possible … such approach is not the best option for the two permanent members of the UN Security Council that bear particular responsibility for international peace and security. We will try to convince our colleagues to change their minds and will also propose a positive agenda of interaction….
“As for the baseless and categorical allegations against Russia, we consistently propose to discuss any claims in a professional manner — on the basis of facts and analysis rather than on assumptions and emotions poured out to the public sphere,” the Russian ambassador stressed. Russia “stands for maintaining pragmatic, equal and good-neighborly bilateral relations. We do not want to remake the U.S. and bring ideological differences to the interstate ties. We expect the same approach to us from the new administration,” the envoy stated. “It is time to stop dividing countries into the right and the flawed, the good democratic and the bad authoritarian. The post-World War II world order based on the UN Charter was built by different states and stipulates the same rights for all countries, irrespective of their internal organization.” He denounced the substitution of a Western-determined “rules-based order” for the international law established in the UN Charter.
