This Does Not Mean Completely Ignoring the Situation: Russian Foreign Ministry

Russia must have the necessary potential in its "barrel" to counter the threats posed by Western countries. This was stated by Grigory Mashkov, a special envoy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, in an interview with RIA Novosti.

Speaking about the missile capabilities of the People's Republic of China and the stance taken by the United States towards it, Mashkov noted that he personally does not share the assessments of American representatives, which are based on a national framework for ensuring global superiority and perceive any action by China in the missile direction as a threat to national security, if not at this stage, then in the long term.

The Russian diplomat reminded that for this reason, the "United States is trying to engage China in dialogue on missile issues to attempt to control this process and impose on the 'Celestial Empire' what appear to be favorable qualitative and quantitative restrictions in the missile field."

"Initially, the discussion was about including China's strategic offensive weapons in the Russian-American bilateral dialogue, while the Americans excluded their allies (France and Great Britain) from the equation. Then, after receiving a rejection from Beijing, Washington began to speak about a possible parallel bilateral format. Our approach to China's missile activities is entirely different. It is based on the concept of special strategic partnership and mutual trust and respect between our countries. This, however, does not mean completely ignoring the situation 'under our feet,' where we must have the necessary potential to properly safeguard national interests and repel threats created by the West," Mashkov concluded.