MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/. Moscow may reconsider its decision to suspend participation in the Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START) when the United States stops its reckless anti-Russian campaign, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters on Wednesday.
"There has to be a change in Washington's behavior. If we see that common sense prevails, if we understand that this reckless, unconditional, absolutely non-stop campaign to mobilize anti-Russian sentiments wherever possible [stops], <...> if we see that something else emerges, an alternative to this absolute dominance of anti-Russian approaches in US policy, then perhaps a basis for additional analysis will appear and the president, whose prerogative it is, will perhaps look at this case anew,," the senior diplomat noted.
He added that Washington should stop trying to put pressure on Moscow in the economic sphere and abandon its intention to demonstrate political rejection of Russia as "an independent, powerful pole of the emerging new system of international relations."
Putin announced his decision to suspend Russia's participation in New START in his State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly on Tuesday. The president stressed that Russia was not withdrawing from the treaty, but before discussing the continuation of work under this document, Russia must understand for itself how New START would take into account the arsenals not only of the United States, but also of other NATO nuclear powers: the UK and France.