Moscow says US trying to 'teach' Russia and China about nuclear field
Russia's ambassador to the United States said Washington is trying to teach Russia and China how to behave properly in the nuclear sphere.
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 insinuation of Russia’s alleged irresponsible behavior in the nuclear sphere. With incredible persistence, the United States is trying to ‘teach’ Russia, as well as China, how to behave properly,” Ambassador Anatoly Antonov told reporters.
The Russian diplomat noted that Washington warned of the advent of a new “nuclear age” in which the US would 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 US officials to get used to the idea that achieving cooperation with Russia while simultaneously trying to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia would not work.
The head of the Center for Military-Political Studies of the United States and RAS Canada, Vladimir Batyuk, told RIA Novosti that the Russian-American dialogue on the issue of intermediate- and shorter-range missiles (INF) “breathed its last” even before the Treaty ended. It is now “finished” completely, irrevocably, and there is no prospect of resuming the dialogue.
Researcher Batyuk believes that the US is planning to deploy its intermediate-range missiles in Europe against Russia. This will give the US an opportunity to launch a nuclear strike on Russia without using its strategic nuclear forces. According to Batyuk, the strategic threat to Russia has reached a qualitatively new level.
August 2, 2024, marks five years since the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), signed between the Soviet Union and the United States in 1987, expired. Under the treaty, the parties agreed not to produce, test, or deploy ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles of intermediate and shorter range.