| Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ravkov. © AFP=News1 © News1 Reporter Kim Ye-seul |
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ravkov said there has been no dialogue with the United States on the war in Ukraine and that US involvement has only increased the risk.
According to Russia’s TASS news agency on the 28th (local time), Deputy Minister Ravkov “told the United States that the US intervention in the war in Ukraine is rather increasing the risk,” he said. “There is no dialogue between the two countries about Ukraine because we have,” he said.
“There is no dialogue between the two countries, but the two countries exchange signals periodically,” he added. It was not clear which signal was specifically intended.
Earlier, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 6th, citing a source familiar with the matter, that White House National Security Advisor Jake Seonner had contacted Yuri Ushakov, a foreign affairs adviser at the Kremlin Palace .
The purpose of the dialogue would be to prevent the escalation of the war in Ukraine and to keep the channel of dialogue between the United States and Russia open.
In particular, as diplomatic contacts between the two countries dwindled following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and concerns were raised that Russian President Vladimir Putin might use nuclear weapons on the battlefield, this news of the conversation gave a positive sign that the channel of dialogue between the two countries was open.
However, with the abrupt postponement of nuclear disarmament talks between Russia and the United States the previous day, the relationship between the two countries is once again heading towards its worst since the Cold War.
The US State Department and the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the two countries will postpone the New Start (New Strategic Arms Reduction Agreement) scheduled in Egypt from the 29th. The two sides did not provide a separate explanation for the reason for the postponement of the meeting.
The main point of the New Start Agreement signed between the United States and Russia in 2010 is to limit to 1,550 the number of strategic nuclear warheads that Russia and the United States can deploy. In January last year, a month before the expiry of the agreement, the United States asked Russia to extend the agreement for five years until 2026, and Russia agreed.
Then, in August, Russia temporarily halted US-led inspections of its facilities. Since then, negotiations for further extensions have stalled.
