The impeachment of US President Donald Trump is exclusively a domestic affair that does not influence relations with Russia, including the possible extension of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Friday, two days after the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted to find Trump guilty of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
"Discussions around the impeachment and relevant procedures are exclusively a domestic matter of the United Sates. We are not anyhow related to this, we do not assess this anyhow, and we believe that there is no link and there cannot be any link between our work on the agenda, including the arms control, and what happens regarding the impeachment procedure," Ryabkov said.
The New START, which expires in February 2021, is the last remaining arms control treaty in force between Russia and the US. Russia has repeatedly stated its readiness to extend the New START without any preconditions, but the US remains undecided. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the global security would be damaged if the deal was not extended.