Moscow says the US is trying to 'teach' Russia and China about nuclear matters.
The Russian ambassador to the US said that Washington is trying to teach Russia and China how to behave properly in the nuclear field.
According to RIA Novosti on August 2, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said that Washington is persistently trying to teach Russia and China "the right way to behave" in the nuclear field.
“Today we hear yet another veiled criticism of Russia’s allegedly irresponsible behavior in the nuclear field. With incredible persistence, the US is once again trying to ‘teach’ Russia, as well as China, the right way to behave,” Ambassador Anatoly Antonov told reporters.
The Russian diplomat noted that Washington is warning of the emergence of a new "nuclear age," in which the US will not restrain the development of its own nuclear arsenal.
According to Ambassador Antonov, dialogue with the US on arms control is impossible without taking into account Russia's national interests, and Moscow will continue to be led astray.
The diplomat added that it was time for U.S. officials to come to terms with the idea that achieving cooperation with Russia while simultaneously attempting to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia would not be effective.
Vladimir Batyuk, head of the Center for American and RAS Canada's Center for Military-Political Studies, told RIA Novosti that the Russia-US dialogue on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) missile issue had "breathed its last" even before the treaty ended. It is now completely "over," irreversible, and there is no prospect of resuming the dialogue.
Researcher Batyuk argues that the US is planning to deploy medium-range missiles in Europe to counter Russia. This would create an opportunity for the US to launch a nuclear attack on Russia without using its strategic nuclear forces. According to Batyuk, the strategic threat to Russia has reached a new qualitative level.
August 2, 2024, marks the fifth anniversary of the expiration of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), signed between the Soviet Union and the United States in 1987. Prior to this, the treaty stipulated that the parties would not produce, test, or deploy ground-launched intermediate-range and short-range ballistic and cruise missiles.
