New START Treaty, Davos chaos, Marinera sailors’ fate: Foreign Ministry comment
Russia "still has not received" a substantive official response from the United States to Putin's initiative to extend the restrictions imposed by the New START Treaty for a year
MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/. Moscow has still not received an official response from Washington to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to extend the New Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty (New START-3) for one year, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
The diplomat noted the improving situation in Iran, expressed bewilderment at the continued detention of sailors from the Marinera tanker, and drew attention to what she called chaos at the Davos forum.
TASS has compiled the key statements by the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The work of the Russian Foreign Ministry
The Foreign Ministry is following Putin's instruction on Russia's accession to the Board of Peace: "The Foreign Ministry is fulfilling the instructions of the president, and it is being worked out."
On January 27, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet with the CIS ambassadors accredited in Russia at a traditional working breakfast.
Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik will hold a briefing on the Kiev regime's crimes from last year on January 30.
New START expiration
Russia "still has not received" a substantive official response from the United States to Putin's initiative to extend the restrictions imposed by the New START Treaty for a year: "As of today, we still have no certainty on the situation."
Putin has repeatedly said that "Russia is ready for any scenarios" regarding the New START Treaty: "The New START Treaty expires on February 5, there are still about two weeks left, and under the current circumstances, we don’t want to speculate, we’ll wait for the specified date, for this deadline, so that we can draw final conclusions on this matter and give a fair assessment of the situation. Let me also remind you that the president of the Russian Federation has stated that Russia is ready for any scenario."
The situation in Iran
Russia is "pleased" to note the normalization of the situation in Iran.
The Russian Foreign Ministry continues to recommend that compatriots in Iran "take reasonable precautions": "Strictly comply with the requirements of local law enforcement agencies and special services."
Russians planning to travel to Iran are advised to postpone their trip "until the security situation in the republic is fully normalized."
The Russian embassy and consular offices in Iran are operating "normally."
On the fate of the Marinera sailors
Russia "expresses its bewilderment and disappointment" that Trump's decision to release Russian sailors from the Marinera tanker has not come to fruition.
Moscow hopes that the Russian sailors will be released soon.
Berlin's refusal to compensate the Leningrad blockade survivors
Germany's refusal to pay the survivors of the siege of Leningrad is a disgrace to the entire German people: "This, I believe, is an absolute disgrace to modern Germany.
"Under far-fetched pretexts, payments are being made by the German side to the survivors of only one nationality, the Jewish survivors, as if they want to revive this wild logic of segregation again and refuse to extend these payments to the rest of the defenders and residents of the city who survived the blockade."
Foreign policy landscape
The debates on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos turned into a sideshow, and we should expect no less from the Munich Security Conference: "Given the chaotic debates that we are currently witnessing live from Davos, I personally look forward to the Munich Conference on Politics and Security. I think it will be no less delightful than what is happening in Davos right now."
French President Emmanuel Macron's statements about Russia's "destabilizing" role are a "morbid fantasy" and an attempt to silence his mistakes.
Russia "sees no signs or prerequisites" for a change in the position of the French leadership on resuming dialogue with Moscow.
There are no prerequisites for the resumption of political dialogue with Georgia yet: "As for the resumption of political dialogue with Tbilisi, unfortunately, there are no prerequisites for this yet."
Russia will "do everything possible to counteract" the blockade of Transnistria: "We are convinced that any methods, including economic pressure, are ineffective and bring the Transnistrian settlement process to a standstill."
On fraudulent call centers
Russians should be extremely vigilant because of the extensive activities of criminal call centers and cyber fraudsters in Southeast Asia, which lure citizens of various countries into schemes against their will: "Taking advantage of the unstable domestic political situation in the areas bordering Thailand and China, transnational criminal groups in Myanmar are creating clandestine call centers, telephone centers, and online casinos and various other forms of essentially new criminal activity".