MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/. Moscow sees no possibility of reaching major agreements with the US in the foreseeable future, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.
"Today, I don’t see a signal field - perhaps, with the rare expedition of people-to-people ties and visa issues, which look like minor things in the current situation - where we could make reasonable compromises and reach agreements with the Americans. As far as major issues are concerned, it’s a no. We will go our own way," he pointed out in an interview with the International Affairs magazine.
He described compromises proposed by the West as ultimatums. "Definitely, it’s impossible to make agreements on such terms; and it will never happen. A compromise is possible only based on a strict balance of interests and respect for the parties’ approaches to various issues," Ryabkov emphasized.
According to the senior Russian diplomat, preventing the crisis from expanding to a scale where it will be difficult to end it without playing out the worst scenario is an urgent task for Moscow. The deputy foreign minister also expressed regret that the West "underestimates the seriousness of what is going on."