Russia still has serious questions for the United States over Ukraine, but the U.S. Trump administration has taken some “significant steps in the right direction,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said at a discussion hosted by the Valdai Discussion Club on Dec. 22, reported TASS. Normalization of relations between the United States and Russia “will require a lot of time, a genuine desire from both sides and tremendous work.” The Pentagon’s strategic goal of establishing military superiority “over all adversaries” is worrying: “We have some concerns.”
The Russian leadership will determine the “specific parameters” of a response to the threats from the West’s deployment of intermediate-range and short-range missiles, Ryabkov said. France and the United Kingdom are moving “to a new level of nuclear coordination, which includes joint nuclear planning and, accordingly, the possibility of using nuclear weapons by these two countries under a single plan.”
“Russia is objectively ready to ensure that its national security is guaranteed, primarily by further improving the reliability and effectiveness of our deterrence and, accordingly, maintaining a strategic balance by taking military-technical countermeasures.”
At the same time, Ryabkov expressed hope that the worst possible consequences stemming from the expiration of the New START treaty can be avoided. “The task of preparing for all possible developments in the strategic situation after the expiration of New START remains relevant. Nevertheless, we would like to believe that the most undesirable options can be avoided,” he noted.
