Russia: 'New dangerous turn in the arms race' - Lavrov on US test of INF-banned missile

W/S Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his German counterpart Heiko Maas arriving for press conference, Moscow
SOT, Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (Russian): "The day before yesterday, it was from this kind of installation [Mark 41] that a piece of weaponry was tested which falls under the prohibitions of the INF Treaty, and this installation has been deployed in Romania for several years now. In these developments we see the risk of the collapse of the strategic stability, fraught with a new dangerous turn in the arms race. We are interested in discussing the question of strategic stability with the participation of European countries, we are ready to do this in the NATO-Russia Council in spite of its ideological climate.”
W/S Lavrov and Maas *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Heiko Maas, German Foreign Minister (German): "In the Normandy format we have France, Germany, Ukraine, and Russia, and we would like to continue that. Yesterday in France President Macron asked to prepare the summit for the Normandy talks, and I am thinking that it would be good to prepare such summit when Ukraine will finish forming the new government in the coming days under Mr Zelenskiy."
W/S Lavrov and Maas *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (Russian): "We paid special attention to the situation in Ukraine, reaffirming the need for the complete and consistent implementation of the Minsk agreements in their entirety, and we hope that the new government in Kiev, which will be formed by the president Zelenskiy, will announce its commitment to peace in Donbass on the basis of the Minsk agreements, which, as you know, was approved by a resolution of the UN Security Council."
M/S Lavrov and Maas shaking hands
SCRIPT
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticised the US test-launch of the missile previously banned by the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, speaking with his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Moscow on Wednesday.
"The day before yesterday, it was from this kind of installation that a piece of weaponry was tested which falls under the prohibitions of the INF Treaty, and this installation has been deployed in Romania for several years now", said Lavrov.
The Russian diplomat went on saying that in this test Moscow sees "the risk of the collapse of the strategic stability, fraught with a new dangerous turn in the arms race".
German FM Maas on his part stated that the next Normandy format meeting between France, Germany, Ukraine, and Russia should be prepared after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy forms his government.
Lavrov added that Moscow hopes Zelenskiy’s new government will “announce its commitment to peace in Donbass on the basis of the Minsk agreements.”