MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/. Moscow continues analyzing the mission of the Board of Peace, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.
"As for the Board of Peace, we have been observing a steady trend with the current US administration to replace, if you will, structures, mechanisms, elements of international architecture that do not suit this administration for one reason or another with decisions and approaches that are in fact formulated and determined, if not exclusively by Washington, then in a way so that Washington could have the final say in these new structures and mechanisms. And this raises a number of questions for the international community," he said during the presentation of a special issue of the magazine Russkaya Mysl (Russian Thought) dedicated to Russian-US relations.
"We have been quite open about our position on the Board of Peace. We continue to study, to analyze the set of proposals and elements that have been suggested concerning this structure’s functioning procedures and its scope," he added.
The senior Russian diplomat recalled that President Vladimir Putin had been quite definite on this matter. "It has been stated that Russia is ready to allocate $1 billion from its assets immobilized in the United States to finance Gaza restoration tasks. Why did this topic surfaced, this is an ‘entry fee’ set by the American initiators for joining the Board of Peace," he noted.
According to Ryabkov, Moscow is in no hurry to decide whether or not to participate in the Gaza Board of Peace. "We’ll see who will take part in the event in Washington on February 19 (inaugural Board of Peace meeting - TASS), at which level and in which scope. We are in no hurry. We're working that out," he added.
