“The moment is near when there will be no other option but to recognize the U.S. and NATO… as full-fledged participants of the conflict,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated in an interview published Nov. 28 with RT. He stated bluntly that “the current [U.S.] administration must stop this spiral of escalation. They simply have to do it, otherwise the situation will become too dangerous for everyone, including the United States itself,” he said, according to coverage of the interview in TASS. Ryabkov stated that the West harbors a dangerous delusion that it can defeat Russia strategically, but “a nuclear power cannot be defeated.”
He reported that Russia still abides by existing agreements with the U.S.. “And under those agreements, shortly before we launched the Oreshnik missile, we notified the U.S.. We maintain this practice and expect the U.S. to do the same.” Ryabkov said such lines of communication are a “stabilizing factor in the current extremely dangerous situation. We also very much hope that such actions will allow us to prevent a dangerous mistake or miscalculation from happening,” he said.
Ryabkov then turned to U.S. plans to place medium-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific theater, reporting: “For several years now, we have been very open and outspoken about the dangers of deploying medium-range missiles of U.S. manufacture in the Asia-Pacific…. We have not reached the point of no return. Once again, we call on those in Washington and those in capitals of the Asia-Pacific who are allied with Washington to stop and reconsider their decision.”
