Russia says to the US: we should communicate, but we should prioritize Ukraine

The Kremlin stated on Friday that although security discussions with the US are urgently needed, they must be “comprehensive” and cover the issue of Ukraine.

When asked if Moscow was prepared to discuss nuclear threats with Washington, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded, “It is impossible to rip out any individual segments from the general complex of accumulated problems, and we will not do this.”

“So, we are open to dialogue, but to a broad comprehensive dialogue that covers all dimensions, including the current dimension related to the conflict around Ukraine, related to the direct involvement of the USA in this conflict,” Peskov stated to reporters.

Russia claims that by equipping Ukraine, the US has directly entered a conflict with the intention of delivering a devastating “strategic defeat” to Moscow. The US disputes this claim. Any discussions regarding the war, according to the United States, belong in Ukraine.

Peskov’s description of the Russian position is not new. However, he informed reporters that there was an increasing list of issues that the US and Russia needed to talk about.

“In general, this conversation is highly necessary,” stated Peskov. “It is needed because problems are piling up, and there are a lot of problems associated with the global security architecture.”

According to Washington, in the third year of the Ukrainian war, Putin is the one raising new security concerns.

This week, he traveled to nuclear-armed North Korea, inked a mutual defense pact with its leader Kim Jong Un, and hinted that he would provide North Korea with Russian weaponry in retaliation for the West arming Ukraine.

Additionally, Putin reaffirmed on Thursday that he was thinking about reevaluating Russia’s nuclear weapons doctrine. 2026 will mark the expiration of the final arms control treaty that restricts the quantity of strategic nuclear warheads that the US and Russia may deploy.