Russia says US 'deceived' on nuclear arms talks
Russia's foreign minister called the US president's statements about his readiness to negotiate with Moscow on nuclear weapons "a lie".
According to RIA Novosti on October 21, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview that US President Joe Biden's statements about Washingtonready to negotiate with Russia, China, North Koreaabout nuclear arms reduction without preconditions is all "deception".
"The call for strategic stability, for nuclear arms control without preconditions is a lie. This means that the United States has the right to declare us in their doctrinal documents, to consider Russia an enemy, to officially declare that their goal is to cause Russia 'strategic defeat'," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Mr. Lavrov noted that Washington hopes that, based on President Biden's words, Russia should accept to sit at the negotiating table on nuclear weapons without asking Washington to abandon its current policy towards Moscow.
The Russian Foreign Minister also pointed out that the US is currently making a similar proposal to North Korea. Mr. Lavrov stressed that arms control negotiations must be conducted on the basis of mutual respect and the rejection of the war process.
"When they tell you to start negotiations without any conditions, but the goal is to destroy you on the battlefield, is that wise?" - Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Mr. Lavrov further noted that Russia had proposed such a dialogue long before the events in Ukraine. He recalled that when the five nuclear states were conducting strategic dialogue, the United States wanted China to participate in negotiations on arms limitation.
"China has refused this, because its potential cannot be compared with that of the US or Russia. Moreover, we do not participate in any military alliance with China and are not bound by obligations like NATO members must follow," Mr. Lavrov analyzed.
According to Mr. Lavrov, the NATO alliance is a combination of three nuclear powers: the US, France, and the UK. Russia proposed negotiations taking into account the combined nuclear potential of these three countries, but the US refused.
"The purpose of the US-led negotiations is to promote itself in order to foster in public opinion the idea of limiting arms between Russia and the US, without addressing the stockpiles of Paris and London, as well as the issues of non-nuclear weapons, which are closely linked to strategic stability. This is also something that NATO significantly outperforms Russia," said Foreign Minister Lavrov.
The Russian diplomat stressed that dialogue must take into account all factors, not follow "nice slogans", but behind it must be the desire to achieve unilateral benefits.
