Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov: Russia open to dialogue with US, refuses to sacrifice its principled positions

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov
Photo: MFA

Moscow remains open to dialogue with Washington on settling the Ukraine conflict but it refuses to sacrifice its fundamental positions on the issue, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told News.ru in an interview, TASS reports.

So far, the American side has demonstrated a readiness to engage in constructive dialogue and to understand Russia’s position, but what matters more now is whether "Washington can influence the decisions of the Kiev regime and its European sponsors, who still dream of a strategic defeat on Russia," the senior Russian diplomat noted.

"US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has indicated the need to put forward new ideas toward a settlement, and we are ready to listen to them if this constitutes the mentioned `efforts’ of the Americans," Ryabkov continued. "We remain open to dialogue with Washington, but that does not mean that we will abandon our fundamental positions," he added.

Anyway, time is now working against Kiev and the EU, "something they will have to reckon with," Ryabkov concluded.

Russia remains open to dialogue on identifying political and diplomatic ways to stabilize strategic stability, Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview.

He recalled that, had Washington not rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s initiative for the parties to preserve the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) legacy through voluntary self-restraints, the current situation, in which the strategic sphere lacks an adequate level of predictability and restraint, could have been avoided.

"At the same time, we remain open to exploring political and diplomatic ways to comprehensively stabilize this area through dialogue-based solutions - naturally, if appropriate conditions are created and our opponents demonstrate readiness for equal and comprehensive engagement based on mutual respect for the parties' interests and consideration of all factors affecting strategic stability," Ryabkov said.

He added that when the Russian President proposed the initiative of a "post-New START," he emphasized "the importance of considering the resumption of strategic dialogue with the United States in the context of the entire range of efforts to normalize Russia-US relations and eliminate fundamental security-related contradictions."

"This is our principled position, and it remains unchanged," Ryabkov concluded.

Russia and the United States continue active, systematic engagement through their administrations and intelligence agencies, Sergey Ryabkov said.

"I would like to stress once again that communication at the level of the foreign ministers is among components of Russia-US interaction. Active work with the US side continues systematically through our administrations and intelligence agencies. Our embassy in Washington maintains close contacts," he noted.

According to the Deputy Foreign Minister, it is useful to continue such engagement.

"Various channels of communication remain necessary to maintain the required level of dialogue, prevent misinterpretations and address issues requiring professional and comprehensive analysis," he concluded.

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