No cold war between Russia, U.S. – Russian deputy FM

Russia and the U.S. are not in state of cold
war despite Washington’s attempts to impose
its will on Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.
“I do not think that we are engaged in a new
‘cold war’ because there no reasons for the
‘cold war’ in its old sense – there is no
confrontation between systems, ideologies,
[there is] no fight for the domination of ideas,”
Ryabkov said.

At the same time he pointed out that the U.S.
was trying to impose its will on Russia.
“Unfortunately, there are increasing attempts
of the United States to dictate its will in
relations with Russia and to make our country
change its political course, also with the use
of the banned methods,” Ryabkov added.

Ryabkov also said Russia hopes that its
contacts with the U.S. on strategic stability,
arms control and non-proliferation of weapons
of weapons of mass destruction.
Speaking to Japanese and Chinese media
outlets, the Russian official said that strategic
stability, arms control and non-proliferation of
weapons of weapons of mass destruction were
the topics where Moscow-Washington
dialogue was possible.
“Unfortunately, the dialogue is extremely slow
under the new administration, but we hope
that in near future the corresponding contacts
will resume,” he added.

He said talks between Moscow and
Washington on returning Russia’s diplomatic
property in the U.S. are neither being held at
the moment nor are expected in the future.
“Regarding the diplomatic property, I have to
state with great regret that after the adoption
of the legislation … the possibility for the
return of this property without a separate
decision of the U.S. Congress is reduced, in
fact, to zero.

“We are not conducting any negotiations on
this topic,” Ryabkov told Japanese and
Chinese media outlets in an interview.
The deputy minister noted that the
administration of Barack Obama and a group
of politicians “in a fit of emotions … created
new unprecedented circumstances in our
relations …
“Therefore, I do not foresee any negotiations
on this issue.”

Source: vanguardngr