Lavrov Tells ‘Great Game,’ Russia Is Ready To Discuss All Aspects of New START

Dec. 23, 2019 (EIRNS)—During a Dec. 22 interview with Channel One’s Bolshaya Igra (or “Great Game”) show, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeatedly stressed that Russia is ready to move forward on the New START treaty. He said that Russia is prepared to include its Avangard and Sarmat missile systems in New START. “We told the Americans [at a bilateral consultative commission set up under the New START] that we have presented our new systems, including hypersonic weapons. We consider that the Avangard and Sarmat systems are covered by the treaty. We are ready to include these weapons and systems in the current New START (when it is extended),” Lavrov said, reported TASS. “We have already presented Avangard to the Americans and we will be ready to do the same with Sarmat at a certain stage,” he stated.

Lavrov also emphasized Moscow’s view that strategic stability isn’t just about offensive nuclear arms but is also about missile defenses, including the placing of missile defense weapons in space.

“We have never denied the necessity to consider the entire spectrum of problems in the sphere of strategic stability with due account of all the aspects of this situation that can tell on strategic stability, including strategic offensive nuclear weapons, strategic non-nuclear weapons the Americans are developing as part of their prompt global strike concept, and missile defense,”

he said.

“Now that it is obvious that this missile defense system has nothing to do with the task of fend off Iran, but is a really global system, we insist on the discussion of problems linked with the plans to deploy weapons in outer space that have been announced not only by the Americans but also by the French,”

Lavrov stressed.

When speaking about the possibility of extending New START, Lavrov emphasized that it was still unclear. He noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a recent meeting with senior officials from the Defense Ministry and the Russian Armed Forces that Moscow was “ready to extend the treaty right away without any preconditions.”

The complete translation of the transcript of his interview is posted to the Foreign Ministry’s website.