In an interview with TASS news agency, the official assured that Moscow will suppress the attempts of the White House and the West to slow down its military operation in Ukraine, and cause maximum damage to Russian troops and groups from the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.

According to the Russian deputy foreign minister, the United States abandoned the dialogue on strategic stability and consultations on security guarantees with Russia under the pretext of the developments around Ukraine.

“Problems in the strategic sphere will not go away alone. Russia remains open to finding constructive solutions for a comprehensive settlement of the existing problems on the basis of the principle of indivisibility of security,” he stressed.

Riyabkov warned that Moscow and Washington do not need a separate negotiation process on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start III), because they interact through the Bilateral Consultative Commission, the technical body where issues arising in connection with the implementation of commitments undertaken are discussed.

He made it clear that the work of that commission will continue until the expiration of the treaty, extended until February 2026 by the two countries’ presidents in February 2021.

In response to another question, the Russian deputy foreign minister said that the United States had not yet responded to requests to submit information on its activities at Ukrainian bio-laboratories.

Riyabkov warned that they did not respond either to Moscow’s requests to provide all information about US military-biological activities in the laboratories in Ukrainian territory and in other facilities outside their national borders.

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