In an exclusive interview with the “Rossiya 1” TV channel on Aug. 4, which Russia’s Mission to the UN in Geneva excerpted in English on its Telegram channel, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov declared: “The era of Moscow’s unilateral concessions is now definitely over. Never again, even under the best scenarios in our relations with NATO and the EU—which are currently hard to imagine—will we offer any unilateral concessions to the West. No handouts, gifts, concessions, or gestures to appease Washington. If the U.S. attempts to impose something unilaterally beneficial to it again, there will be no agreements. Period.
“It was once possible to reach agreements with Washington on a sound and reasonable basis. Some of them are still viable, especially on individual humanitarian issues, but this does not change the overall picture. Negotiations can now only be conducted on a ‘quid pro quo’ basis. The Americans understand this kind of talk quite well.
