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Strategic stability talks with US must touch on Ukraine — Kremlin

Dmitry Peskov asserted that US authors of proposals on the matter "cannot be bothered" with the stance expressed by Russia’s top political leadership

MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. Russia is ready to hold a strategic stability dialogue with the US, but only if the Ukraine issue is on the table, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

"We are open to dialogue, but a wide, comprehensive dialogue that encompasses all dimensions, including the one related to the conflict around Ukraine and the US' involvement in that conflict," he said, commenting on Washington’s statement that it is open to a dialogue with Moscow on nuclear risks separately from the Ukrainian conflict.

Peskov asserted that US authors of proposals on the matter "cannot be bothered" with the stance expressed by Russia’s top political leadership. "The Russian president, speaking on the prospects for dialogue, said that we are ready for dialogue with the US, interested in it, but only as a whole. It is impossible to single out some individual aspects from the entire set of accumulated issues," Putin’s press secretary explained.

That said, the Kremlin official is confident that such a dialogue "is necessary" because "problems continue to accumulate, including issues related to global security."

Earlier, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia would be ready to discuss a new treaty on reducing strategic offensive arms only if Washington stops supplying weapons to Kiev and blocks Ukraine’s acceptance to NATO.