GENEVA, September 30. /TASS/. Washington sticks to a negative position on Russia’s initiative to declare a moratorium on the deployment of shorter-and intermediate-range missiles, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday.
"Undoubtedly, this is one of those questions that, in our opinion, are highly relevant. What we heard was the unchanged position of the Americans on this issue. A mostly negative position regarding Russian President [Vladimir Putin’s] proposal for a moratorium on the deployment of such systems," Ryabkov said.
According to the Russian diplomat, Moscow stressed its "intention to continue addressing this issue." "We expressed our readiness to move on along the path of specifying those aspects that are probably seen by the critics of our initiative as lacking details, if Washington demonstrates interest and political will for that," he said. "If we feel at a certain point that our colleagues on the other side of the negotiating table are really ready to address this matter seriously, professionally, we won’t be found waiting."
He also noted that European nations are demonstrating no interest to Russia’s initiative. "It looks like that European countries care little about what is going on at their door," he noted.
On August 2, 2019, the United States formally withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed by the Soviet Union and the United States on December 8, 1987. It applied to deployed and non-deployed ground-based missiles of intermediate range (1,000-5,000 kilometers) and shorter range (500-1,000 kilometers). The US motivated its actions by Russia’s alleged refusal to comply with the American ultimatum-like demand that the new 9M729 cruise missiles be eliminated as violating the INF Treaty. Moscow vehemently dismissed all accusations, saying that the technical parameters of the 9M729 missiles are within the parameters allowed by the treaty and laid counterclaims to Washington.
In September 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a proposal to the leaders of several countries, including NATO member states, to introduce a moratorium on deploying intermediate-and shorter-range missiles in Europe and in other regions. The United States however literally turned down the initiative.