‘It’s a trap’: Russia doubts secrecy of talks with US after publication of data from closed meetings – deputy FM

Moscow cannot be certain that confidential talks with the Unites States will not become public, following publications of information from closed meetings, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday.

“There is a trap now: we cannot be certain that some discussions, the delicate, confidential or trusting ones, will not suddenly become public due to some reason,” TASS quoted him as saying. “We’ve seen WikiLeaks publications, we’ve seen the Mueller probe, we’ve seen publication of transcripts of video surveillance footage, and now the Bolton memoirs,” he added.

“We walk the minefield, not knowing which discussion will be disseminated next time by which source. In the meantime, we are talking about things which, in normal circumstances – not the current chaos – would take decades to declassify. All of this puts diplomacy before completely new challenges,” Ryabkov said.

Referring to former US National Security Advisor John Bolton’s memoirs, the Russian diplomat said: “I understand that this book, just like many other things happening in the US, is about the US internal policy, not the foreign one.”