RFE/RL reports: Russia appears to have rejected U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s offer to lift U.S. economic sanctions against Russia in exchange for a deal to curb nuclear arms.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters at the United Nations in New York on January 16 that Moscow was willing to talk to the United States about nuclear disarmament, but it was not going to discuss arms control as part of a deal to lift sanctions.

“Sanctions are not a subject for dialogue,” Ryabkov said. “We have never discussed any criteria for the listing of sanctions and are not doing it now. All these sanctions were introduced under contrived and illegitimate pretexts.” [Continue reading…]