“The pressure is mounting in all directions: the White House is sending its envoys to Asian, African and Latin American countries with the aim of persuading the authorities to end their cooperation with Russia,” the diplomat told Rossiya 24 channel.
Antonov stressed that the pressure from the US authorities on their allies to undermine the economy of the Eurasian nation does not seem to abate, “they are trying to impose the already expired unipolar regime,” he stressed.
On the other hand, he specified that the Start III Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty signed between Russia and the United States expires in 2026, so the two nuclear powers will have to negotiate on an equal footing to decide the future of this pact for world peace.
“Today, Start III is the gold standard of arms control that we must maintain,” he stressed, recalling the words of the two countries’ presidents in Geneva when they declared that “a nuclear war should never start, there can be no winners in such a conflict.” .
The ambassador assured that his colleagues in Moscow were ready to negotiate the treaty directly, it just had to be clarified whether Washington had the same will.
Referring to Washington’s sanctions on Russian fuel, he claimed that by “dividing energy markets into good and evil,” the White House is destabilizing the sector, raising prices and contributing to increased inflation.
In this regard, he stated that the goal is to deprive Russia of income and force it to supply resources at unprofitable prices and at a loss.
In this sense, he warned that as a result of this policy of limiting the amount of Russian hydrocarbons, there would be a redistribution of the flow of goods “not in favor of Western countries”.
Antonov confirmed that the Kremlin is not asking the US government for the impossible, “we are content with respect for our national interests”.
“All in all, we don’t need much from the USA. We need him so that he recognizes our national interests, respects us and is ready to enter into dialogue with us on terms of equality and mutual respect,” said the Russian diplomat.
After the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, numerous countries, mainly from the West, activated various batteries of individual and sectoral sanctions with the intention of causing maximum damage to the economy of the Eurasian nation. thereby putting pressure on Moscow to cease hostilities.
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