Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has acknowledged that the decision to leave the nuclear weapons negotiating table with the United States is based on the current poor relations between Moscow and Washington.
The U.S. State Department denounced on Monday that Russia had unilaterally withdrawn from talks to reformulate the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which were due to begin this week in Cairo, Egypt.
Now, Zakharova has insisted on her Telegram channel that she expects the U.S. side to make «conscientious efforts» to ensure conditions that would facilitate a rapprochement between the two countries, culminating in a new round of talks on the issue.
The Russian diplomatic representative has insisted that for Moscow this issue is «important» and considers it necessary to prevent an arms race, a common goal for both countries.
However, Zakharova regretted that relations between the two powers are «at the highest level of toxicity and hostility», and accused the United States of being behind a «hybrid war» that has nothing more than the «pathological desire» to harm Russia.
At this point, Russia considers that the talks to reformulate the START treaty cannot be left aside from the diplomatic reality experienced by both nations, and has denounced the hypocrisy of appealing to Moscow for moderation while, on the other hand, supporting Kiev within the framework of the war.
«You have to have a very peculiar logic to tell Russia about moderation, transparency and predictability in military matters, while at the same time helping the Kiev regime to kill our military and civilians,» he has reproached.
