MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/. China's idea of concluding an international agreement on not being the first to use nuclear weapons is sensible and Moscow and Beijing are in contact on this issue, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has told the media.
"We are in touch with our Chinese counterparts. We are continuing the discussion and believe that there are grains of reason in this proposal," Ryabkov said.
He recalled that the "Chinese colleagues first put forward a proposal for concluding such an agreement back in 1994."
"Since then we have repeatedly discussed with them on various platforms how this concept fits into the current circumstances in the international arena. We have great respect for the logic of the Chinese authors and the set of arguments they use," Ryabkov said. Russia "is well aware that this initiative stems from Beijing’s serious and deep concern about the destructive processes affecting international security, launched by the United States and other Western countries in recent years."
The question about the fate of this agreement, as Ryabkov pointed out, should first of all be addressed not to Russia, but "precisely to these Western participants."
"It is enough to take a look at their responses, which were voiced from the Geneva rostrum and publicly, to see that they categorically do not accept this Chinese idea," Ryabkov explained.