Updated 11:02 p.m. Moscow time.
MOSCOW, October 15 (RIA Novosti) - The current standoff between Russia and Western nuclear powers is threatening strategic stability and constructive cooperation is needed to prevent the deterioration of the situation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"We hope that our partners will realize the futility of attempts to blackmail Russia and remember what consequences discord between major nuclear powers could bring for strategic stability," Putin said in an interview with Serbian newspaper Politika ahead of his visit to Belgrade scheduled for October 16.
"For our part, we are ready to develop constructive cooperation, based on the principles of equality and genuine respect for each other's interests," Putin stressed.
According to the Russian President, in its desire to harm Russia over its alleged involvement in the Ukrainian crisis, the United States "went so far as to declare the suspension of our cooperation in…nuclear energy".
In April, the US Department of Energy suspended peaceful nuclear projects with Russia's Rosatom, while UK authorities revises a cooperation agreement with the Russian state nuclear corporation, which had offered to construct a nuclear power plant in the United Kingdom.
