MOSCOW, February 24. /TASS/. Russia sees no sense in communicating with the United States on the threat of nuclear weapons deployment in space and Washington advances groundless accusations, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Saturday.
"There has been no progress on this issue and there can be none. The reason is clear: the United States advances absurd accusations that we allegedly intend to deploy some systems with the weapons-grade nuclear component in space," the senior Russian diplomat said.
"That is why, communication is completely unproductive on this issue," Ryabkov stressed.
The senior diplomat highlighted statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow had no intentions to place nuclear weapons in space. As Ryabkov pointed out, the American side pursues the sole goal of "demonizing Russia by advancing such accusations."
As Ryabkov pointed out, it is actually impossible to hold a serious dialogue with the Americans due to their habit of breaching accords and leaking confidential information.
"The Americans constantly allow information leaks on the issues that we agree with them as being confidential. Initially, they insist that no information be leaked into the public domain on this score and literally after discussing this theme with us, they disclose it themselves," Ryabkov pointed out.
"The unacceptable nature of the US approach to any contact and dialogue with us is perfectly clear for us in the light of constant leaks from Washington. We denounce this American practice," the senior Russian diplomat said.
Some American media outlets reported earlier that the so-called threat to the US national security could be posed by Russia’s alleged plans to deploy nuclear weapons in space. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that these publications were nothing else but another ploy by the White House. Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out during a meeting with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu that Russia "has always been and is strongly against deploying nuclear weapons in space.".