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Russia has strength and capabilities to rebuff any aggressor, says senior diplomat

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that given military dangers and threats, efforts have been taken over the recent years to update and expand defense capabilities

MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Russia has enough resources and capabilities to rebuff any aggressor, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with the Kommersant daily on Tuesday.

"I can once again confirm what we have repeatedly said at different levels: Russia is not threatening anyone, but it has all necessary resources and capabilities to rebuff any aggressor," he said.

He said that given military dangers and threats, efforts have been taken over the recent years to update and expand defense capabilities in the sector of state-of-the-art, including high-precision, weapons to maintain strategic and regional balance.

"Within the framework of acceptable transparency, we inform the public and other countries about it. This allows us to expect full understanding of rational military experts that in the absence of drastic changes in security conditions - both in Europe and in the world as a whole - Russia will have everything necessary to ensure the interests of its own security without violating commitments under the existing international agreements," he said.

He said that in conditions of Washington’s denouncing the INF Treaty, Moscow will not be turning a blind eye to the deployment of American ground-based short-and intermediate-range missiles, carrying a threat to the country and its allies. Russia will have to act in kind, Ryabkov said. "I would like to caution against pushing the situation towards the emergence of new ‘missile crises’ in which, I am sure, no sober-minded country is interested," the diplomat summed up.

On October 20, US President Donald Trump said that Washington would withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty because Russia had allegedly violated it. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov called this decision a dangerous move. Berlin and Beijing criticized Washington, London voiced its support for the US, while NATO laid the blame for Trump’s decision on Russia.