Sergei Ryabkov

Russia is contemplating scaling back diplomatic relations with Western countries due to what it perceives as "hostile actions and increasing involvement in the conflict in Ukraine," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov announced.

Russia said Wednesday it was waiting for the United States to respond to its propositions regarding a prisoner swap, days before U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich was set to face trial in Russia.

Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was arrested in March 2023 on espionage charges rejected by his family, employer and the White House as false.

In a recent statement, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov issued a stern warning to Poland, asserting that any permanent deployment of NATO nuclear weapons on Polish soil would render the country a military target for Russia.

Amid escalating global tensions, Russia has unequivocally declared its stance on nuclear weapon deployment, affirming that it has no plans to station such arms abroad, with one exception - its ally, Belarus. The announcement came from Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Ryabkov, responsible for arms control, during the BRICS summit.

"The US, not only launched a hybrid war against Russia, which is being waged, apparently, down to the last Ukrainian, they are still tasked with inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia, they are demonstrating an increasing focus on changing the government here, organizing internal Russian unrest", Ryabkov said.

Moscow said Thursday it had denied an upcoming consular visit to detained US reporter Evan Gershkovich in retaliation for Washington not issuing visas to several Russian journalists.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov complained last weekend that the United States had denied visas to Russian journalists due to travel with him to the UN headquarters.

In an interview for Sputnik, Sergey Ryabkov pointed out that, practically, according to all the indicators that can be imagined from the point of view of the bilateral dialogue with the United States of America, the situation has currently reached a dead end.

Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Ryabkov assessed as extremely risky the destructive policy of NATO, which ignores the "red lines" marked by Moscow.
In an interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia, he said that this leads to further escalation that could lead to a military conflict between nuclear powers with serious consequences.

This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergei Ryabkov for the TV channel "Russia 1".
The diplomat pointed out that Moscow does not want the US to become one of the parties in the Ukrainian conflict, but that Washington refuses to listen to warnings for the time being.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned Washington not to interfere in Russia's internal affairs.
"Official Moscow registers U.S. interference in the Duma elections, but it does not make a PR campaign out of it and does not engage in megaphone diplomacy," Zakharova said, TASS reports.