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Russia’s New START suspension

Russia, US have neither points of contact nor grounds for talks on New START — diplomat

According to Sergey Ryabkov, Russia "cannot even consider any notifications from the American side given that, from a formal point of view, the treaty has been suspended"

MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/. Russia and the United States have neither points of contact nor any reasons for holding negotiations on the New START Treaty, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at the international Valdai Discussion Club on Wednesday.

"In this (the New START Treaty - TASS) there are simply no points of contact. I don’t think there are any grounds to discuss the New START Treaty issues with the US," he said during a panel discussion titled "A World Without START: What’s Next?"

"As for recent contact with the US on this topic, it has basically narrowed down to our narrative of the position and the meaningful part of the decisions that have been adopted," Ryabkov said. "I believe that we were able to get it across to our American counterparts in detail and quite clearly, and in turn we were told by them about a similar set of ideas and considerations, which were subsequently made public."

According to the diplomat, Russia "cannot even consider any notifications from the American side given that, from a formal point of view, the treaty has been suspended."

"Therefore, under the relevant law that was passed, we are not even authorized to engage in such activities. It would be a violation of federal law on our part," the deputy foreign minister concluded.

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