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INF Treaty to be on agenda of Russia-NATO Council meeting, says senior Russian diplomat

The issue will be "the main theme", Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said

MOSCOW, January 21. /TASS/. The main issue on the agenda of the forthcoming meeting of the Russia-NATO Council will be the future of the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told TASS in an interview.

"We are making preparations for a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council. It is obvious that such a major problem as the future of the INF Treaty will be the main theme on the agenda," he said. "This issue was already discussed at Russia’s initiative at the latest meeting on October 31 last year. As far as the forthcoming meeting is concerned, it should by no means be allowed to result in the repetition of political positions that were already declared at the previous meeting."

"In making preparations for the session we must bear in mind, firstly, the contacts we’ve had with the US side, and also some other factors that would allow for analyzing in depth the situation involving the treaty through the lens of European security and the degree to which this problem concerns the interests of each of the Russia-NATO Council member-states," Grushko said.

Read also

UN Secretary General calls on Russia, US to continue talks on INF Treaty, extend New START

About the possibility the Russia-NATO Council might meet in session before February 2 - the date when Washington intends to begin its pullout from the INF Treaty - Grushko said that Moscow was in no mood of trying to hold the Russia-NATO Council’s meeting "within any artificial deadlines."

"The temporal factor is rather important, but the matter of content is far more significant. We take a serious attitude to the dialogue with our partners and we are certain that the discussion of such a major problem as the future of the INF Treaty requires fundamental preparations," he believes.

Earlier, NATO’s Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Alejandro Alvargonzalez declared that another meeting of the Russia-NATO Council was due soon.

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