Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made clear, in the course of answering various questions in his annual year in review press conference January 20, that Russia still remains committed to dialogue with the Trump administration, despite the obstacles, as long as possible, because as nuclear powers, the two nations must talk.
Multiple problems exist. Lavrov reported that the U.S. has not even released back to Russia the two Russian crewmen seized when the U.S. boarded the Marinera, the Russian-flagged tanker on January 7, despite promises to do so.
The strategic danger is grave. President Trump has rejected President Putin’s proposal that the U.S. and Russia mutually adhere to the constraints of the New Start Treaty for the year after it expires come February; “so be it,” said Lavrov. He pointed out that the U.S. is attempting “to establish superiority in certain areas of strategic stability,” citing its forward deployment of ground-based intermediate- and shorter-range missiles, such as the Typhon in Japan and the Philippines, and the plans to station similar such missiles in Germany; the attempts to expand the deployment of nuclear weapons in Europe; the Golden Dome global missile defense system—all while the United States is “weaponizing outer space and deploying weapons in outer space.”
A reporter raised the U.S. actions against Russian allies, Venezuela and Cuba, and asked: “Do this inconsistency, unpredictability, and the apparent willingness to employ unlimited force on the part of President Donald Trump pose a threat to Russia?”
Russia “can clearly see the inconsistency of the Trump administration’s actions in matters of international security and its attitude toward international law,” Lavrov responded. But, “complete alignment is simply impossible, especially between the world’s two largest nuclear powers, the Russian Federation and the United States.”
