WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The United States is trying to teach Russia and China how to behave in the nuclear sphere, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said.
«Today we heard regular insinuations about Russia’s allegedly irresponsible behavior in the nuclear sphere. With a persistence worthy of a better use, they are again trying to teach our country, just like China, ‘proper behavior,’» Antonov told reporters.
He said that otherwise, Washington says the United States will not restrain the growth of its own nuclear arsenal.
Acting US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy Vipin Narang said on Thursday that the United States might be forced to reconsider its nuclear size and posture in the absence of a change in the nuclear trajectories of Russia, China and North Korea.
The New START treaty between Russia and the United States is set to expire in 2026. Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has said that extending the arms reduction treaty is possible only after the United States stops supplying weapons to Ukraine and blocks that country’s accession to NATO.
«Our country will continue to be guided exclusively by national interests, without account for which building a Russian-American dialogue on arms control is impossible,» Antonov told reporters.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, signed between the Soviet Union and the US in 1987, banned the countries from developing and possessing ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges from 500 to 5,500 kilometers. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the treaty, accusing Russia of non-compliance. In response to the US decision, Russia suspended its participation in the Cold War-era accord.
