MOSCOW. Feb 13 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he did not discuss the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in his phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and added that Russia would discuss the issue when "the United States ripens."
"It is true that the INF Treaty was not mentioned in our conversation with Mike Pompeo. We (the Foreign Ministry) made a statement, which indicated every issue discussed by us on the phone," Lavrov said at a joint press briefing with his colleague from Lesotho on Wednesday.
"As for the INF Treaty and other issues pertaining to strategic stability, arms control, and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, President Putin was loud and clear about them several days ago, when he recalled every initiative that went unanswered by Washington and its Western allies and confirmed that those initiatives were still on the table but he had ordered Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and me to stop reminding anyone about them," Lavrov said.
"Everyone is perfectly aware of them [the initiatives]. So when our colleagues ripen, we will be ready to establish a professional, concrete, and non-politicized dialogue on these subjects," Lavrov said.