Moscow considers it important to confirm the inadmissibility of nuclear war and the impossibility to win it, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters on Wednesday, commenting on the statement of the US President's Special Representative for Arms Control Marshall Billingsley that no US president will sign a statement on the inadmissibility of nuclear war with Russia.
"If the text of the joint statement (dated 1985 - TASS), once supported by the idol of the current neoconservatives in Washington [former] President [US] Reagan, does not cause anything in terms of associations but a word of nonsense, it's just a problem of those people who are dealing with these issues now," he said in response to TASS's question. - "In our opinion, right now it would be extremely important to confirm in a timely manner and from all points of view the inadmissibility of nuclear war and the inability to win it.
"We have been offering this to the Americans for several years now. We have made relevant proposals for the consideration of the entire Nuclear Five. Unfortunately, because of the obstructionist position of the United States, and, in fact, the position that suggests the possibility of winning the nuclear conflict, it is not possible to achieve this," the deputy minister added.
According to him, this is an indicator of what today's discussion in Washington is worth about the commitment to strengthening international peace, finding some solutions with Russia in the field of arms control. "In fact, they (the US - TASS) aspire to unconditional military superiority, and that aspiration is fueled by the dangerous illusion of winning a nuclear conflict," said the senior diplomat.
Ryabkov stressed that Russia warned both the US and the entire international community against the harmful consequences of such an approach, "if it continues to be maintained by the Americans in practical terms".
The deputy minister noted that Moscow was not surprised by Billingsley's statement on the inadmissibility of nuclear war. "We were not surprised by the nature of his statements, although the tone was certainly subdued. Not the representative of this country, which is a serial violator of agreements in the field of arms control and other agreements of various kinds, and not the representative of the administration, which is tampering with the architecture in this area with its own hands, makes such accusations," said the deputy foreign minister, stressing that Russia categorically rejects such an approach.
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Photo: Anton Novoderezhkin / TASS