OAN’s Jacob Miller
3:31 PM – Thursday, January 18, 2023
Russia’s top diplomat says now is not the time to discuss restarting a nuclear arms treaty with the United States.
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During a press conference on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that the Biden administration is continuing to support Ukraine and wage a hybrid war against the Russian federation.
“Their goal is clear, under the slogan of reciprocity, to try to somehow ensure control over our nuclear arsenal as I said, to minimize nuclear risks for themselves,” he said.
Lavrov added that this is discouraging Russia from negotiating the New Start Treaty that expires in 2026.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin suspended participation in the treaty last year over concerns of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) plans to cripple its defense capabilities.
Lavrov said that while those concerns still linger, they may subside once American officials start escalating the war in Ukraine.
“Of course, we do not reject this idea for the future, nor do we reject the possibility, we have never done this, of a political and diplomatic settlement of existing differences,” Lavrov said. “But we strictly and firmly precondition this possibility on the preliminary full refusal of the West from the malicious course of comprehensively undermining Russia’s security and our interests.”
The Russian diplomat went on to lament that the U.S. does not seem to want to find a constructive solution to simmer tensions with Russia.
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