MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS on Saturday he would discuss visa issues and the efforts of normalizing the work of both countries’ diplomatic missions with US Ambassador John Sullivan who had returned to Moscow.
"Next week, I will hold a meeting with Ambassador Sullivan. We will discuss current issues with the ambassador depending on their evolution. Of course, the main issues include normalizing the work of Russian missions in the United States and US missions in Russia. These issues are at the foreground. And, naturally, this relates to visa issues. We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that mutual trips of our citizens have been suspended," the high-ranking Russian diplomat said.
The situation with delegation exchanges between the two countries is utterly unacceptable, Ryabkov stressed. "This has never occurred before. I don’t recall anything like this over long decades," he added.
The bilateral agenda also includes a whole range of issues related to sending the staff for work in diplomatic missions in both countries, the senior Russian diplomat pointed out.
"This is also an important aspect but a broader agenda will undoubtedly be present in the course of the meeting with Mr. Sullivan," Ryabkov noted.
The Russian side will pay close attention to the signals that US Ambassador Sullivan who has returned to Moscow will convey from Washington, Ryabkov said.
"I do not know what he has come with from Washington. We will be ready with all the attention and with all the responsibility to perceive the signals that he will convey to us, proceeding from the instructions that he presumably received during his stay in Washington that came to an end," the senior Russian diplomat said.
The agreement on the return of the Russian and US ambassadors to their places of work was reached at the Russia-US summit in Geneva on June 16 that had been proposed by Washington. Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov returned to Washington on June 20 while Sullivan arrived in Moscow on June 24.
Dialogue on cybersecurity
Moreover, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said that Moscow expects to launch a full-format and comprehensive dialogue with Washington on cybersecurity in accordance with the agreements reached during a summit of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden in Geneva.
"We are holding it [the dialogue on cybersecurity] at the level of the ambassador, the deputy minister and the special representative for IT security. The discussions are being held at various levels. Our delegations got in contact when specific aspects of organizing the work of an open-ended group were being elaborated in New York," the senior Russian diplomat pointed out.
"The contacts were also held there but a full-fledged and all-embracing dialogue has yet to be launched in accordance with the agreements that were reached at the presidents’ encounter in Geneva. This was one of the summit’s main practical results, as it is clear to all of us," Ryabkov pointed out.
Dialogue on the counter-terror agenda and in arms control
Moscow is ready to resume a substantive dialogue with Washington on the counter-terror agenda, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said.
"Despite various sorts of challenges posed by the pandemic and the situation related to the US initiative on countering climate change and a lot of other issues that capture the US administration’s main attention today, as I understand, counter-terror tasks remain in the focus of attention and a priority. We are ready to return to them," the high-ranking Russian diplomat said.
Contacts in this sphere were held before as well but the US side "broke them off under far-fetched political pretexts," Ryabkov pointed out.
"We hope that Washington will address this issue as well. This is a highly important theme," the high-ranking Russian diplomat emphasized.
"This would become a major contribution both to strengthening global stability and normalizing bilateral relations between Washington and Moscow," Ryabkov said.
Ryabkov added, that Moscow hopes that statements by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggest Washington’s readiness to involve Paris and London as its allies in arms control.
"Yes, I would very much want to hope that the country [the United States] is thus sending a signal of its readiness to involve both France and Great Britain as its allies in the process," the senior Russian diplomat said, commenting on Blinken’s words about the US unwillingness to make decisions on arms control without Europe’s participation.
"We have long been speaking in favor of this and if such an understanding has been reached, following the results of contacts between Paris and Washington, we can only welcome it. If there is no such an understanding, and I want to note that we have no information on this score except for media reports, then they should explain what they mean," the high-ranking Russian diplomat said.
The French side earlier repeatedly stated at all the levels that "future arms control talks should take the task of strengthening European security into account," the senior Russian diplomat recalled.
"It is hard to argue with that and if the French could continue what they somewhat dropped halfway as regards Russia’s proposal on mutual moratoriums on the deployment of intermediate-and shorter-range weapons, then this could become a contribution to strengthening European security. It will become clear for us soon what colleagues in Washington and Paris mean when they make public statements on this issue," the deputy foreign minister said.
US Secretary of State Blinken said at a press conference following the results of the talks with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian on June 25 that the United States would not make any decisions on arms control without Europe’s participation.
The prospect of placing arms control on a multilateral basis
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister underlined, that the prospect of placing arms control on a multilateral basis will be among the main issues in a dialogue between Moscow and Washington.
"Beyond a doubt," the senior Russian diplomat said, replying to the corresponding question.
"The prospects of placing arms control on a multilateral basis and at least considering the potentials of the closest allies of the United States in this field in developing a new security equation in whose favor we have been speaking lately will be among the main ones [issues]. This will be one of the areas of our work with Americans. And with Europeans as well," the high-ranking Russian diplomat pointed out.
Ryabkov earlier stated that Russia was not going to persuade other countries to join arms control talks but any other country possessing the potential in this sphere could participate in the negotiating process or the agreements between Moscow and Washington.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden held a summit meeting in Geneva on June 16 that had been proposed by Washington. Following the results of their encounter, Putin and Biden agreed on the return of the ambassadors. They also discussed the state and the prospects of bilateral relations, strategic stability issues and the international agenda, including cooperation in the anti-coronavirus fight and the efforts to settle regional conflicts.
