Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov reported in a press conference in Moscow this morning, that when he met last week with Lynne Tracy, the new U.S. ambassador to Russia, the status of the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty was among the topics on their agenda. “We don’t reveal the contents of closed consultations. What I can add to the short media statement that was released following the meeting with Ambassador Tracy is that we discussed the New START. The Americans later decided to make their claims on the matter public [likely referring to U.S. accusations made last week that Russia is in violation of the treaty by not allowing U.S. inspectors into Russia-ed.]. There was nothing unexpected or unusual about that signal for us,” Ryabkov said in response to a TASS question. He stressed that “the United States has made previous attempts to present all things related to the activities of the Bilateral Consultative Commission as a completely different issue that should be considered with no reference to the developments in Ukraine.”
“We view the situation around inspections in the same context as the issue of the next session of the Bilateral Consultative Commission. It’s hard to imagine officers of the U.S. Armed Forces inspecting Russian military facilities,” he pointed out. “They would have traveled deep into our country while being the representatives of a party to the conflict (in Ukraine), albeit for purposes said to be connected with the need to verify the implementation of New START,” Ryabkov added.
