MOSCOW, June 22. /TASS/. Russia is hoping that pragmatism will prevail in Washington’s approach to future talks on strategic stability, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Tuesday speaking at the international nuclear policy videoconference of the Carnegie Foundation. 

"Our hope is that the pragmatic approach will prevail, like in the situation with the extension of the Treaty on the Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START), and the US will look for solutions together with Russia. For it to happen, the talks should be based on reciprocity. We are not going to move down a one-way traffic street. There cannot be any unilateral concessions on our side, in this sensitive area," he said.

Ryabkov underlined that Russia will firmly hold on to its legitimate interests in the security sphere. "Our colleagues in Washington should see it as a matter of course," he continued. "If the political will from both sides is strong enough to respect the balance of interests, then the agreements can ensure transformation of the world into a much safer place."

On June 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a press conference in Geneva following his talks with US counterpart Joe Biden that the agreement had been reached with the US side to launch inter-agency consultations under the auspices of the Foreign Ministry and State Department on strategic stability and arms control.