MOSCOW, September 16. /TASS/. Russia will be ready to discuss strategic stability with the US only if Washington takes specific steps to improve relations, rather than merely issuing empty declarations, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at a briefing following the BRICS summit.
He noted that, at present, there is no dialogue on strategic stability between Moscow and Washington.
"And the prospects for this dialogue depend largely on whether Washington will recognize the need to genuinely improve relations with Russia. Otherwise, the contradictory process of discussing secondary, less significant issues will continue against the backdrop of very real measures aimed at limiting our influence and our role in the world and pushing us out of important markets, including the energy sector," the senior diplomat pointed out. "And when we see that declarations are followed by specific steps that allow us to begin repairing our relations, then, perhaps, it will become relevant to consider the question of what a dialogue on strategic stability means in today’s context, whether it is possible, and what it might encompass," Ryabkov emphasized.