MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/. Moscow has repeatedly statated that Russia's security is ensured for decades to come, and the United States along with their NATO allies know this, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told the Kommersant daily in an interview.
"We have repeatedly stated, and the president have said this, that the security of the Russian Federation is ensured for decades to come. Americans know this. Their NATO allies know this as well," Ryabkov said in response to a question on what Moscow could lose if the New Strategic Arms Reducation Treaty (New START) is not extended.
Ryabkov noted that the effectiveness of ensuring national security is increasing when there are efficiently operating mechanisms in the sphere of arms control.
"In the political-diplomatic sense, the predictability and understanding for the future of what we can expect from our opponents, let's call them this, will significantly decrease in the absence of a treaty. Of course, what American experts say are benefits of the New START — transparency and predictability — are important for us as well. We will admit that the treaty built on the principles of parity and balance of interests, provides the same things for us," he stressed.
"In fact, Moscow and Washington face similar choices when it comes to how we will proceed with the issue of arms control," Ryabkov said.
Russia has already made its choice regarding the New START, he added. "We are ready to extend the treaty without any preconditions and think that this would be the right decision for everyone, including the United States," he concluded.
Rybakov also said that Russia is concerned over many aspects of US military policy and planning. "In particular, we could deal with the issues that concern us. And Russia is concerned by many things in US military policy and planning," he stated. "This, of course, includes their global missile defense system that continues to develop, their plans to deploy offensive weapons in space, and many other things," he added.
"It is clear that Americans have their own questions to what we do. We are ready to have a substantive conversation on every issue instead of exchanging mutual reproaches and accusations or trying to force unilateral decisions on others, as it often happens from the US side," he noted.