MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. Moscow is worried over Washington’s attempts to put to question the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) under a pretext of its alleged violation by Russia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with the Kommersant daily.
He stressed that Russia has never sought frustration of the treaty. "That is why we are worried over the American side’s attempts to use invented pretexts to accuse Russia of alleged deviations from the treaty’s provisions and call to question its expediency," he said. "This is another topic we offer for discussion."
"The Russian side has no reasons to call to question the viability of this treaty," the Russian diplomat stressed. "But we have a range of claims to the United States from the point of view its inadequate implementation of the treaty’s provisions."
The United States accused Russia of violating the INF Treaty for the first time in July 2014. Since then, Washington has been repeating these accusations while Moscow has been categorically rejecting them. On July 8, 2017, an initiative was submitted with the US Congress to impose sanctions on Russia for violating the INF Treaty.
On Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov met in Washington with US Under Secretary Thomas Shannon. The talks agenda included issues of strategic stability, the Russian foreign ministry said after the meeting. The ministry stressed that Russia is ready to resume regular dialogue with Washington on these problems.