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Hard to imagine US inspecting Russian military sites amid Ukraine conflict — Russia's MFA

"They would have traveled deep into our country while being the representatives of a party to the conflict, albeit for purposes said to be connected with the need to verify the implementation of New START," Sergey Ryabkov said
Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Bobylev/TASS
Russian Foreign Ministry
© Sergei Bobylev/TASS

MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. It’s difficult to imagine US officers inspecting Russian military facilities with Washington being involved in the conflict in Ukraine, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters on Monday.

"We view the situation around inspections in the same context as the issue of the next session of the Bilateral Consultative Commission. It’s hard to imagine officers of the US Armed Forces inspecting Russian military facilities," he pointed out.

"They would have traveled deep into our country while being the representatives of a party to the conflict, albeit for purposes said to be connected with the need to verify the implementation of New START," Ryabkov added.

Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said earlier that various restrictions imposed by the United States and its allies against Moscow actually made Russian inspections under New START impossible. According to him, the lack of regular flights between Russia and the US, the closure of airspace to Russian aircraft by US allies and problems in obtaining transit visas for inspectors and flight crews created conditions, "which impede, if not block," Moscow’s ability to conduct inspections on US territory.