"International security system in deep crisis"

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that the international security system is in deep crisis.

"Unfortunately, we do not yet fully understand what measures and techniques can be used to stop this crisis, to avoid the collapse of the system," he told the 5th Primakov Readings international forum. "And such a danger exists," the diplomat stressed.

Recently, it is becoming increasingly doubtful whether "will the comprehensive test-ban treaty ever come into force?" he said.

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister also said that the situation regarding the preservation of bilateral arms control agreements between Russia and the United States, "primarily in the nuclear field" is "the subject of universal attention and concern".

Director of the Institute of Political Studies Sergei Markov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the main reason for the current crisis is the U.S. is its desire to have unlimited power over the planet. "For this purpose, they want to use their technological advantage, transforming it into a military advantage. Therefore, the U.S. is interested in an arms race and eliminating any limitations in armaments. There is a second reason as well: the U.S. political system is in crisis. President Trump represents neither of the parties, the population voted for him precisely because he stands against both Democrats and Republicans. It happened because the former presidents, members of these parties, were radicals," he drew attention.

"It seems that the internal mechanisms of the formation of the American elite have broken down. It is now proceeding according to some new principles, and these principles lead to the fact that the U.S. is trying to liquidate democratic institutions. In addition, U.S. foreign policy is becoming increasingly adventurous, threatening universal peace. As a result, we are hostages of the mechanisms by which officers of the U.S. General Staff, congressmen etc. are selected. In connection with this crisis, I think the treaty banning nuclear testing will probably not be extended. The processes occurring within the U.S. elites are hidden, chaotic and increasingly undemocratic, so it is difficult to predict them," Sergei Markov said.

The President of the National Strategy Institute, Mikhail Remizov, named the destruction of the former balance of power system after the end of the cold war and the U.S. unwillingness to accept the new balance of power as a norm as the cause of the crisis of the international security system. "The United States as a key military superpower claims strategic invulnerability," he stressed.

"The model of the balance of power requires the Americans to abandon its fixation on strategic invulnerability. The condition of the new security architecture would be the U.S. political realism as a willingness to act in the logic of the concept of the balance of power model," the President of the National Strategy Institute added.

"In the coming years, the decisive role will be played by the military technology race. It will become clear in the future whether the United States will be able to get a decisive advantage bringing the technological base to the doctrine of strategic invulnerability. If they realize that they manage to do this, we will roll further from the balance of power model and the relatively safe world model. If they see that they do not succeed in this, then I think that Washington's level of negotiability will increase significantly," Mikhail Remizov concluded.