Russia in talks with partners on deployment of long-range weapons, TASS reports

(Reuters) – Russia is discussing the deployment of long-range weapons with its closest partners, the official TASS news agency reported on Wednesday, citing Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

Ryabkov said in an interview with the TASS agency that Moscow has “closest partners” in Asia and Latin America with whom “the security situation is being resolved substantively, and not only at the level of the exchange of evaluations.

“There is nothing new in this,” Ryabkov was quoted as saying by TASS. “The question (of the placement of long-range weapons) is raised (…) with a number of our partners.”

Ryabkov did not name any countries and said the discussions were taking place “in full compliance” with the obligations that countries can assume under international treaties, including those to which Russia is not a party.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in North Korea on Wednesday. The United States and its allies have said they fear Moscow is providing aid to Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs, banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Ryabkov also told TASS that diplomatic contacts between Russia and the United States have been reduced to an absolute minimum, limited mainly to embassy, ​​visa and humanitarian issues, and could further escalate.

“Our contacts with the Americans are reduced to the absolute minimum, both in terms of quantity and content,” Ryabkov said, according to TASS.

“As for political issues… there is nothing, except episodic contacts on the fringes of international organizations.”

Ryabkov also said diplomatic relations could further deteriorate in response to US moves to confiscate Russian assets.

“Lowering the level of diplomatic relations is part of the arsenal of means,” Ryabkov said.

In response to Russia's war in Ukraine, the United States and its allies banned transactions with the Russian central bank and Finance Ministry and blocked approximately $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets in the West, most of which found in European and non-American financial institutions.

Last week, the Group of Seven wealthy democracies agreed to use the proceeds of frozen Russian assets to provide $50 billion in loans to Ukraine.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; editing by Himani Sarkar and Michael Perry)