Sergey Ryabkov

Sergey Ryabkov is the deputy minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation appointed in 2008.

Background and career

Ryabkov graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) in 1982. He has served at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the central office as well as on a number of overseas diplomatic missions. Ryabkov headed of the OSCE (Organization of Security Cooperation in Europe) division of the Department of European Cooperation. From 2002 to 2005 he served as the senior counselor of the Russian embassy in the United States and counselor-envoy of the Russian embassy in the US. Returning to Moscow, he served as the Director of the Department of European Cooperation. He is a member of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy. He has also served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation and is the recipient of several state awards.

NATO war in Ukraine

See also: NATO war in Ukraine

On June 1, 2022, deeputy foreign minister Ryabkov told RIA Novosti news that Joe Biden's decision to arm Ukraine with HIMAR missile launchers increased the risk of direct confrontation between Russia and the United States. Biden foreign secretary Antony Blinken said the weapons, which have a precision range of up to 300 kilometers, were given on the pretext of a promise by Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelensky not to use the HIMARs against Russian territory.

On October 19, 2023, the Biden regime conducted a nuclear test in Nevada. A Kremlin statement on October 24, 2023, stated that Russia has successfully tested its ability to launch a massive nuclear retaliation strike by land, sea, and air. This show of power coincided with the Russian State Duma withdrawing its ratification the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The United States, while signing the treaty, never ratified it. Deputy foreign minister Ryabkov said Russia was not ready to begin nuclear talks with the United States until Washington abandons its hostile stance. The development came days after Russia was attacked by the long range ATACMS missiles delivered to Ukraine by the United States.

US-Russia relations

On December 22, 2023 Ryabkov the said in an interview with Interfax new agency that Russia will not feel safe until there is a generational change in the leadership of the United States and NATO; he spoke about the "comatose" state of Russian-American relations and their prospects and how diplomatic relations with the United States is not a totem or sacred cow to be worshipped. The United States should not have the illusion that Russia is holding on to diplomatic relations with both hands.

He spoke of the future of [[[arms control]], denazification and demilitarization on the territory of Ukraine as a result of the special military operation, and when Ukraine acquires a guaranteed neutral status, if it would be enough for Russia to feel safe from the United States and NATO.