All news

Diplomat welcomes Biden administration not binding arms control to China’s participation

Russia’s stance on the need to move towards multilateral formats in arms control has remained unchanged, the deputy foreign minister stated

MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/. Russia welcomes Washington’s current stance of not having any rigid link tying the future of arms control to China’s involvement in the negotiation process following the arrival of the Biden administration, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters on Thursday.

"Regarding the issue of the Chinese, during one of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s first public speeches, China was mentioned in the context of arms control, but we saw no attempts by the US to rigidly bind the future in this area to China’s participation in the relevant dialogue or multilateral processes following the advent of the new administration. One can welcome this fact," he said.

Russia’s stance on the need to move towards multilateral formats in arms control has remained unchanged, but each country can make its own decisions on taking part in certain negotiations and agreements. Ryabkov went on to say. "For us, it would be a priority to include Great Britain and France above all, since they are the United States’ closest allies possessing nuclear capabilities, which we cannot ignore either in terms of quantity or quality," he explained.

"If the United States is interested in China’s participation in negotiations, it should maintain dialogue on the issue with China," the diplomat insisted.

"In the absence of a common understanding that future negotiations will not be bilateral, we recommend that the Americans not dwell on this matter, but rather continue to move along a tried and tested trajectory and find solutions, which are quite possible in a bilateral format," Ryabkov added.