Russia, US Discussed In Geneva Creation Of Working Groups On Strategic Stability - Ryabkov

The delegations of Russia and the United States at a meeting in Geneva discussed the issue of creating working groups on the topic of strategic stability, but this is not a matter of today, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said

GENEVA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th July, 2021) The delegations of Russia and the United States at a meeting in Geneva discussed the issue of creating working groups on the topic of strategic stability, but this is not a matter of today, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.

"The topic of working groups was touched upon. The essence of our approach boils down to the fact that the topic of working groups is a derivative of the task that we want to solve, that is, it should not happen that we create some tools and then they, as they say, have self-sufficient character, they work on their own, in a vacuum or not even in a vacuum, but in complete autonomy from what we want to come to in the end," Ryabkov told reporters.

He explained that Russia and the United States first needed to "understand what we are striving for, and depending on this, we must form a suitable toolkit, what working groups can be."

"What working groups can be, what their agenda can be is an important issue, but not today. Over time, I think, we will solve it on a reasonable basis, mutually acceptable for Washington and Moscow," Ryabkov added.

He noted that now "we have no mutual understanding with the Americans on this topic."

"But this is a purely 'passing' moment, current one, it should not be dramatized. This is normal. Over time, everything will be built up and settled down. I repeat, the main thing is to understand the level of our common ambitions, realistically assessing what is achievable, what is unattainable. And then to form a platform on which all this will be carried out. We are still conducting an informal discussion, but energetic and purposeful," the deputy minister added.

He explained that the conversation with the United States is "more and more specific about what to do to strengthen strategic stability, what to do in the future, when the five-year extension of the New START expires, what set of possible agreements and understandings can be developed in order for challenges in the sphere of strategic stability to receive adequate answers."