MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/. Russia must militarily deter the United States and prevent it from meddling in the country’s internal affairs, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at a news briefing on Thursday.
"We are open for a sound, calm and balanced dialogue based on a constructive agenda, but we will defend and safeguard our interests in the toughest way. The US must be the object of our deterrence policy, including from the viewpoint of thwarting its aggressive interference and any meddling in our internal affairs, but also it must be the object of military deterrence, which is significantly facilitated by arms control, if it is properly organized," the Russian diplomat said.
At the same time, it is necessary to hold talks with Washington on a reasonable and calm basis and on those issues that are important for both sides, Ryabkov stressed.
"This is what we will be doing. There can be no illusions about any potential leaps into a splendid future with the administration of [US President] Joe Biden. This administration is too anchored in its own ideology, and in its own false and far-fetched perception of contemporary Russia. It will be difficult to redo this, but we will seek to achieve this," the diplomat said.
The Russian diplomat also highlighted that Moscow "strongly disagrees with the cynical and incessant US efforts to meddle in Russia’s internal affairs". "Furthermore, the attempts that are denied precisely by those individuals who actually are employing them, they are the ones formulating and implementing this policy. This is quite a peculiar situation but we will also make certain conclusions from that," Ryabkov specified.
Replying to a question about whether all these factors might affect the strategic dialogue between Moscow and Washington, the Russian diplomat pointed out that the "strategic dialogue hasn’t been sealed air-tight and this is simply one of the elements of bilateral relations."
"But we will display the utmost responsibility on the issue of how to make the multitrack process of conducting further affairs with the United States or, using the phrase [by Russian President Vladimir Putin] about apples and oranges, how to separate them further," the diplomat said.