WASHINGTON, December 8. /TASS/. Moscow is ready for dialogue with Washington only on the bases of the principle of equality and due account of its concerns about its security and calls on the US side for honest work, the Russian embassy in the US said in a commentary on the 35th anniversary of the Washington summit, which was released on Wednesday.
"We call on the American side to work honestly. Ignoring Russian interests as well as Washington's thoughtless implementation of its foreign policy while being convinced of its own exclusivity and superiority, have already led to huge problems, crises in the world politics and economy," the embassy noted.
"We have learned our lessons from the past. We are well aware of the cowboy desire to "do away with the rival". We perfectly understand that one mustn't take everything the American political establishment, especially the today's one, says at face value," it stressed. "Russia is ready for a dialogue only on the basis of equality and if our country's security concerns are taken into account."
The embassy recalled that "a special achievement" of the Washington summit of December 8-10, 1987 was the signing by the leaders of the two superpowers of the Treaty on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles. "Foreign policy decision makers in Washington today should once again look back at those events" to learn the lessons from them, the embassy noted.
According to the embassy, the memoirs of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022) and the then US President Ronald Reagan’s (1911-2004) indicate that "it is obvious that the level of mistrust towards each other remained very high." "The differences seemed to be insurmountable. <…> However, both leaders were aware of the importance of the negotiation process, the need to change the paradigm and move away from open confrontation, fraught with the most tragic consequences for the whole world, to finding a compromise. Diplomacy worked, negotiations were held, and meetings of experts from both countries were organized," it stressed.
The conclusion, according to the Russian diplomatic mission, is that "with intransigence being visible to the naked eye as well as antagonism in approaches to solving certain problems in bilateral relations, it is necessary to hear and listen to a partner, understand and accept concerns related to ensuring the security of the state, and not try to cheat." "There are too many spectators; there is no concealing cheap tricks," it added.