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Russian Diplomat Ryabkov Affirms, ‘Results Are Immediately Needed’ on Accord for Security Guarantees

Jan. 6, 2022 (EIRNS)—With respect to U.S.-Russia strategic stability talks in Geneva on Jan. 10, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Bloomberg News in an interview yesterday that Russia wants to see results within a few weeks.  President Putin “said the result is needed immediately, and that’s not a figure of speech. We can’t even talk about months here, let alone years,” he said, but without specifying a deadline. As for the tough U.S. stance rejecting some of the provisions of the draft agreements that Moscow delivered on Dec. 15, and made public on Dec. 17, he said, “I hope this is just a negotiating tactic.” Ryabkov remarked he hopes to gauge the prospects for continued diplomacy based on “the extent to which our American colleagues are receptive to our demands” at the talks next week, where Ryabkov will head the Russian delegation. “I need to hear what they want to choose” from what Russia is seeking, he said. “But that doesn’t mean I will agree with their choice.”

In an interview published today with Izvestia, Ryabkov said that the U.S. “has not specifically indicated what exactly” from Russian proposals on security guarantees is unacceptable for them and their European allies.

Ryabkov also expressed some discomfort with linking the issue of strategic stability with that of the security guarantees Russia is demanding. “According to certain signs, our U.S. colleagues would like alternatively to turn the topic of security guarantees into the element of the strategic stability dialogue. Certainly, this is not completely suitable for us,” he said, reported TASS. The success of the strategic stability dialogue is not at the same time in “total dependence” on the progress in talks on security guarantees, Ryabkov stated. “The success of the strategic stability dialogue does not depend entirely on the progress in the topic of guarantees, although there is interconnection and it will not be proper to deny it.”

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