< p>Russia is ready to normalize relations with the United States, but it will not "dance the tango alone", Russian President Dmitry Peskov's press secretary told TASS.
„Russia, as the president says, is open to normalization. But we can't dance the tango alone. And we will not do that“, said the representative of the Kremlin.
He noted that Russia has not started the "sanctions race". “This was initiated by Washington”, Peskov added.
"The changes to be made to Russia's nuclear doctrine have been practically formulated but not yet formally documented. This will be done if necessary”, the Kremlin spokesman said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the parameters for adjusting the nuclear doctrine on September 25 at a meeting of the Security Council's permanent meeting on nuclear deterrence. According to the Russian leader, “the category of states and military alliances against which nuclear deterrence is carried out has been expanded”.
A few more clarifications are expected. The Russian Federation will consider aggression by any non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, as a joint attack by them.
The mass take-off and launch of strategic and tactical aircraft, cruise missiles, drones, hypersonic and other aircraft towards the Russian Federation and their crossing of the Russian border will become the basis for the use of nuclear weapons. Aggression against Belarus as an ally of Russia could also lead to a nuclear strike.
Russia will not lift sanctions against Florida Senator Marco Rubio, US President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is under sanctions.
This can only be a mirror process, said the press secretary of the Russian president.
„What good will do we have if Lavrov is under sanctions?“ he said when asked if it was possible to lift the sanctions against Rubio as a gesture of goodwill. “This can only be a mutual process,”, noted the representative of the Kremlin.
Rubio has been on Russia's sanctions list since May 2022 and China's since August 2020.
He adheres to conservative views: on the one hand, he is a supporter of reducing aid to Ukraine, but, on the other, he positions himself as an “anti-communist”, criticizing the authorities of Cuba and China. Trump called countering China one of the US's priorities.