Russia has warned the United states to stop holding talks with them from ‘a position of force’ after the US announced that it had ended diplomatic relations with Russia over Russia’s continued assistance of Syrian forces in the continual attacks on civilians in Aleppo, Syria.
Relations between the U.S. and Russia has never been this low since the Cold War as Russia also announced on Tuesday it has ended it’s cooperation with the U.S. on a 16-year-old program for the disposal of weapons-grade plutonium used to make nuclear bombs.
In the 16 year old agreement, both countries agreed to dispose of 34 tons of plutonium, enough for thousands of nuclear bombs, but now Russia has ended the agreement over what it called Washington’s “unfriendly actions” toward Russia.
In a statement published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said:
“The decision we have made is a signal to Washington: attempts at talking to Russia from the position of strength, in a language of sanctions and ultimatums while continuing selective cooperation with our country … where this cooperation benefits the United States will not succeed.”
Konstantin Kosachev, head of Russia’s Foreign Affairs Committee, also criticized the U.S’s decision to end diplomatic relations with Russia.
“Russia has striven for continuing dialogue with the US on Syria until the last moment, and only our position was keeping the chance to launch a stable peace process alive,” he said, according to Russian news agency Sputnik News.
