Russia calls US statements on readiness for nuclear talks 'deception'

21/10/2024 11:42

        Recent statements by U.S. President Joe Biden's administration that Washington is ready for nuclear talks without preconditions with Russia, China and North Korea are a "deception," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
        
        "The call to talk about strategic stability, about control over nuclear weapons without preconditions is a deception," Lavrov told the news outlet Argumenty I Fakty in remarks published early on Monday.
        
        "What does 'without preconditions' mean? This means that the Americans reserve the right to declare us an enemy in their doctrinal documents."
        
        In a note to Japanese organisation Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki that won this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said it stood "ready to engage in talks with Russia, China, and North Korea without preconditions to reduce the nuclear threat."
        
        Lavrov said the statement means that Washington reserves the right to officially declare that its goal is to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia on the battlefield.