MOSCOW. Oct 22 (Interfax) - Moscow views the U.S. statement about plans to pull out of Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty as an ultimatum, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
"It is very worrying that Washington continues almost everyday attempts to use the method of blackmail to forcefully get certain concessions in a number of areas," Ryabkov told Interfax in commenting about Saturday's statement of Washington about plans to withdraw from the INF Treaty.
"Now the talk of intermediate and shorter-range missiles is becoming a method of blatant pressure," he said.
"Over the years, we have tried to bring the U.S. to a reasonable dialogue, to mutually lifting concerns, and we continue seeking it. Nevertheless, after the increasingly bald violations of the treaty in a number of aspects by the United States itself, we are seeing its ambition to virtually give Russia an ultimatum," he said.
"We are rejecting the very method, which is becoming increasingly dominant in the U.S. policy towards Russia. We certainly do not accept such methods as ultimatums and blackmail," Ryabkov said.