US Did Not Want To Hear Russia's Reasoning At INF Talks In Geneva - Lavrov

Faizan Hashmi Published January 16, 2019 | 02:29 PM

Russia's proposals at the talks in Geneva on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) clarified Moscow's stance, but the United States did not want to listen to Russia's reasoning, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th January, 2019) Russia's proposals at the talks in Geneva on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) clarified Moscow's stance, but the United States did not want to listen to Russia's reasoning, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday.

Russian and US officials met in Geneva on Tuesday to discuss the treaty in light of US decision to quit over alleged lack of compliance on Russia's part.

"To our greatest regret, yesterday, Russia's practical proposals that, let me assure you, allowed the United States to examine on an expert level the 9M729 missile, which they suspect of breaching the parameters set out by the treaty [were not heard] ... Our questions about why the Americans do not want to look at our proposals, at the exact parameters of this missile first-hand, were not heard," the minister said at a press conference.

According to Lavrov, the United States did not listen to Russia's proposals on actions that would help assuage the US fears over Russia's compliance with the treaty and on "getting access to the information on problems that we have regarding the US compliance with this treaty.

"All of this was swept aside, and the US opinions heard yesterday followed the logic of 'you are breaking the treaty, and we are not, that is why you, Russia, have to do what we demand and we are not obliged to do anything.' Of course, you cannot go far with this stance," Lavrov said.

The Russian foreign minister stressed that Russia was still ready to work to save the treaty and was hoping that Europe would put in effort to save it as well instead of giving in to the US influence.

"I hope that those European countries that are more interested [in this] than, perhaps, anybody else ... will try to influence Washington so that it would take on a more responsible stance," Lavrov said.