Russia Tells U.S., No New START Talks So Long as U.S. Seeks Our ‘Strategic Defeat’

Feb. 9, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement yesterday “categorically” rejecting allegations that have been made in Washington that Russia is not in compliance with the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty, and affirmed that there is nothing to discuss about New START so long as the U.S. is out to destroy Russia.

“We most definitely emphasize that any positive signals or concessions on issues raised by the United States in the context of compliance with New START will be unjustified, untimely and inappropriate until Washington reviews its hostile policy towards Russia and abandons its line of building up threats to our national security. This concerns, in part, the holding of sessions of the Bilateral Consultative Commission under the New START Treaty,”

the Ministry said.

The Ministry underscored, “The United States has actually launched a total hybrid war against Russia, which includes the risk of a direct military confrontation between two nuclear powers.

“Under these circumstances, Washington’s requests to resume, no matter what, the inspections of Russia’s strategic offensive facilities sound openly cynical, especially considering that the Kiev regime has tried to target them with the United States’ obvious military-technical, information and intelligence assistance,”

Russian Ministry said, likely referring to Ukrainian cruise missile attacks on two Russian bomber bases in December.

The Ministry had noted

“We would like to point out again that Washington’s aggressive policy and the publicly declared goal of inflicting a ‘strategic defeat’ on Russia in Ukraine, where increasing amounts of weapons are being sent together with instructors/mercenaries/military personnel from the United States and other NATO countries, as well as the US administration’s efforts to fuel confrontation in all spheres of bilateral interstate interaction, preclude the possibility of doing ‘business as usual.’ ”

The Ministry explains:

“We would like to point out that the treaty was signed in fundamentally different political realities and was part of a completely different process, which has been set out comprehensively in the preamble that is an integral part of the treaty. It says, in part, that the parties were ‘working to forge a new strategic relationship based on mutual trust, openness, predictability, and cooperation,’ were ‘guided by the principle of indivisible security,’ and were ‘endeavoring to reduce further the role and importance of nuclear weapons.’ We regret to state that the U.S. policy is diametrically opposed to all these goals.

“The preamble also says that the parties recognize the existence of the interrelationship between strategic offensive arms and strategic defensive arms and that this interrelationship will become more important as strategic nuclear arms are reduced. We are talking about the fundamental principle that underlies strategic balances. This is why the Russian Federation, when signing and ratifying New START, made a statement on ballistic missile defense, which says unambiguously that New START would only be effective and viable in the absence of a qualitative and quantitative increase in the U.S. BMD systems. However, Washington has been augmenting them for years, contrary to Russia’s clear and unambiguous  objections.

“Before accusing the Russian Federation of non-compliance with the provisions of the New START Treaty, the United States should settle years-long problems with the US’s illegitimate exclusion from the counting rules of a substantial part of its strategic offensive arms, which Washington claimed to have converted or which it renamed so that they were no longer covered by the treaty terms and definition,”

the Ministry wrote.

The statement concludes:

“Russia reaffirms its unwavering commitment to New START as an important instrument for maintaining international security and stability. We urge the United States to accept that there is no alternative to building relations with Russia on the basis of the fundamental principles of equality and mutual respect for each other’s interest. Washington should draw appropriate practical conclusions from the obtaining situation.”