The dialogue between Moscow and Washington on strategic stability is formally “frozen”, Russian news agency Tass reported on Saturday, citing a foreign ministry official.
Vladimir Yermakov, head of nuclear non-proliferation at the Foreign Ministry, said those contacts could resume once Russia completes what he calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Yermakov said Moscow believes the United States intends to finalize projects to deploy medium- and short-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. He did not present evidence to support the claim.
“The emergence of such weapons in these regions will further worsen the situation and fuel the arms race,” Yermakov said.
Also on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the lifting of sanctions imposed on the country by the West was part of peace talks with Ukraine.
“The Russian and Ukrainian delegations are discussing daily by videoconference a draft of a possible treaty,” Lavrov said in a commentary to China’s official Xinhua news agency, published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website.
Kiev warned on Friday that talks on ending the invasion of Russia, now in their third month, were in danger of collapsing. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted since the invasion began on February 24 that Western sanctions against Russia need to be tightened and cannot be part of the negotiations.
