Currently, there are no conditions for a substantive dialogue between Russia and the United States on strategic stability, and the deployment of US missile systems in Europe, including Norway, could cancel all other preconditions for such talks, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Zakharova noted that Russia assesses the deployment of US medium- and short-range missile systems in Norway as "another destabilizing action by NATO," given the fact that a significant part of European Russia, including Moscow, falls within the range of these weapons. Therefore, Russia's reaction will include placing the US systems and supporting infrastructure under “special attention by the Russian strategic forces to deterrence, which includes planning the combat use of the strike systems in question in the event of an armed conflict“, continued the spokeswoman for the diplomatic department.
“We have repeatedly and in detail explained that favorable conditions have not been created for a meaningful and fruitful strategic dialogue with the United States. And steps such as the deployment of American ground-based medium-range missiles in Europe, which threaten the Russian Federation, would, to put it mildly, nullify the prerequisites for a constructive discussion with the United States“, said Zakharova, quoted by TASS.
“As for the dialogue with the United States on strategic stability (...), we would like to remind you that it is not at a standstill, but was unilaterally interrupted by the administration of (former President Joe) Biden. The current American authorities are unrealistically talking about starting some multilateral negotiations with the mandatory participation of China, which has repeatedly and clearly stated that he had compelling reasons not to engage in such work at this stage“, the diplomat concluded.