Kremlin: Russia may reconsider the disarmament agreements with the US because of the new sanctions
Mikhail Ulyanov, Director of the Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control at the Russian Foreign Ministry admitted to Interfax that Russia could review disarmament agreements in response to new US sanctions.
In answer to whether Moscow's retaliatory steps could touch upon the sphere of disarmament and the treaties which are in force in this area, the Foreign Ministry spokesman replied that "everything is possible in life." He recalled that in October 2016, Russia decided to suspend the bilateral agreement on the disposal of weapons-grade plutonium. "We then made it clear that this decision was made to send a signal to Washington that it is not possible to introduce sanctions with one hand and to extend another one for cooperation in areas of interest to the US. That is, there are precedents," Ulyanov said.
At the same time, according to Ulyanov, it is necessary to approach the decisions on such issues responsibly and "to correlate every step with our national interests, because by responding to the unacceptable step by our partners, we shouldn’t take actions that will go against our own interests."
Ulyanov also said that despite the contradictions between Russia and the United States, both countries "also have common interests." "This is an objective reality, which is recognized both in Washington and in Moscow, and to dismantle indiscriminately everything that exists in this sphere, it would be extremely unreasonable."
Ulyanov explained that "profile agreements" with the US today are quite adequate to Russian needs and, in his opinion, it is hardly advisable to change anything. "However, the situation might change. Much depends on how the United States will behave further," he added.
Earlier it was reported that US President Donald Trump signed a law on the expansion of sanctions against Russia. In particular, the document limits the ability of the US President to lift sanctions though it does not introduce any new measures directly and does not oblige the President to introduce them.
Russia announced the imposition of retaliatory measures against Washington even before the signing of the document by US president. In particular, the Russian Federation confiscated the summer house from the US embassy and ordered the expulsion of some of the diplomats.