READY TO DISCUSS STRATEGIC STABILITY ISSUES WITH U.S., SAYS RUSSIA

Russia is noticing signals from the United States indicating Washington’s readiness to discuss the issues of strategic stability and is ready for a dialogue, but will press its missile defense concerns, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.

“We are not yet aware from what angle [US President] Joe Biden’s administration will address various aspects of arms control, including the anti-missile issues. At the same time, we are registering signals from Washington [showing] an intention to discuss the issues of strategic stability with us,” Zakharova said. The spokeswoman added that Moscow was prepared to have a substantive dialogue on the matter.

“However, we will not agree to anything without our interests and concerns being taken into account in return. If we manage to jointly arrive at a balance of interest then we can talk about agreements,” the diplomat added.

Zakharova accused the US of pursuing absolute military dominance and counting on Russia’s nuclear deterrent getting weaker.

“The US has adopted the goal of reaching absolute dominance in the military area and counts on devaluation of Russia’s nuclear deterrence potential, [combined] with a focus on creation of a global missile defense system,” Zakharova explained, while also mentioning that the US was making efforts to boost its military capabilities in space and create means for a rapid and high-precision non-nuclear strike.

Last week, the US Department of Defense was reported to have plans to allocate almost $18 billion to develop, manufacture and maintain new interceptors against missiles from North Korea and Iran, which will become the first major defense procurement initiative of the Biden administration. The department is reported to be planning to install 31 such interceptors at bases in Alaska.