No progress on the issue of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was made at the meeting with US Under Secretary of State Andrea Thompson, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday.

"Unfortunately, there is no progress. The US position remains rather tough and ultimatum-like," Ryabkov said.

"We told the US side that it is impossible to hold dialogue in the conditions of attempted blackmailing of Russia," he added. 

Russia will continue working on rescuing the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty after the United States stops meeting its commitments under the deal on February 2, the diplomat added. 

"We have made no progress. We are stating this not just with regret, but with deep concerns over the fate of the treaty and the fate of European international security," Ryabkov said. "That’s because now, as we understand, the next stage, the next phase is beginning, namely the phase of the US suspension of its commitments under the INF Treaty. This will apparently happen this weekend."

"But we will continue the work, we are not giving up. We are ready to look for solutions, but now it will be much more difficult to do this," he noted.

On US stance 

According to the Russian diplomat, Washington keeps its ultimatum position on the situation around the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and is not ready to hold dialogue with Russia on transparency measures. 

"The US side is now trying to criticize us that this had been arranged in a wrong way [a briefing of the Foreign and Defense Ministry on 9M729 missile] but it contradicts itself and does not confirm that it is ready to further discuss with us any transparency measures," Ryabkov said.

The senior diplomat stressed that Washington is fully responsible for the situation. "They have taken an absolutely destructive and a very tough stance, and they imposed themselves a 60-day timeframe during which we should meet their ultimatum," Ryabkov noted.