In comments to the Sept. 17 issue of Komsomolskaya Pravda, Russia’s Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said that a discussion on arms control with the United States is impossible, especially with the backdrop of the Ukrainian incursion in Kursk, and the threat to allow Ukraine to use long-range NATO weapons against targets in Russia, according to an article by Vladimir Krasnov. He gave no date for their interview.
Antonov stressed that strategic issues cannot be considered separately from the overall context of deteriorating security and Russian-American relations. “In his opinion, even the slightest dialogue is impossible in the context of current events related to the conflict in Ukraine, as well as possible decisions on allowing Ukraine to use long-range weapons on targets deep in Russian territory,” wrote Krasnov.
“According to him, the American side has practically destroyed the key elements of deterrence on which the arms control system previously relied.”
Antonov gave a live interview with much the same thinking to Rossiya 24 TV on Sept. 13, according to the embassy’s Telegram channel. In a summary of his interview, the embassy states in Russian (machine translation): “The Americans have proven that they are cheating, deceiving us, while simultaneously solving their own problems. The main thing is not to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield, but to fight us and the countries of the South to maintain the old order. They intend to cleanse Ukraine of Ukrainians and stretch out their hands to the wealth of the post-Soviet republic….