US Missile Deployment from East to Alter Russia’s Position on Moratorium, Diplomat Warns

According to Sergey Ryabkov, the existing moratorium on "the deployment of intermediate-and shorter-range strike weapons" will remain in force as long as "similar US-made weapons are not deployed somewhere in the world"

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. The deployment of US intermediate-and shorter-range missiles in Asia will alter Moscow’s position on the missile moratorium, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told a news briefing on Friday.

The existing moratorium on "the deployment of intermediate-and shorter-range strike weapons" will remain in force as long as "similar US-made weapons are not deployed somewhere in the world," the senior Russian diplomat pointed out.

"We put forward some formulas and we are not taking them off the table, on how to start going along this path in Europe, although now we have shaped them [these formulas] in a more general and binding form in draft agreements [on security guarantees with the United States and NATO]. Nevertheless, the same applies to Asia," Ryabkov stressed.

"The emergence of the US weapons in question from the east, whatever the slogans may be and whatever the pretexts that might be used, will inevitably lead to a change in our position in the context of the above-mentioned moratorium because such systems will pose a threat to us," the senior Russian diplomat warned.

Sino-Russian relations would not inconvenience any country, Ryabkov stressed.

"I do not see any activities in our relations with China, which can be perceived by any states as failing to correspond to their interests," the senior Russian diplomat said, responding to a journalist’s question about US-NATO’s fears on the Asian track in the context of the strategic partnership between Moscow and Beijing.