MOSCOW, February 28. /TASS/. Russia considers the Russian-US Treaty on measures for the further reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms (the new START Treaty) useful and does not plan to change it, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Tuesday.
"We consider the START Treaty of 2010 a mutually useful instrument, a balanced document that does not contain any unilateral concessions to anyone whomsoever and that really strengthens security," Ryabkov said.
"We consider these statements [by Trump on the START arms treaty and the US nuclear potential] as an obvious occurrence. They have not become a surprise for us as they fit into the political line that has been shaped by representatives of the new US administration’s leadership in this area," the Russian diplomat said.
"There is nothing special that would change our own conceptions of the possibilities and the instruments that can be applied in this sphere," he added.
"It is necessary in principle to use a very weighed and thought-out approach to what is related to arms control," Ryabkov said.
US President Donald Trump earlier criticized the new START Treaty of 2010, promising "to start making good deals" and expand the US nuclear arsenal.
"It’s a one-sided deal like all other deals we make. It gave them [Russia] things that we should have never allowed," the US leader said in the Reuters interview.
The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-III) was signed by the presidents of Russia and the United States on April 8, 2010 in Prague and entered into force on February 5, 2011 after it was ratified by Russia’s parliament and the US Congress.
The Treaty stipulates cutting deployed strategic carriers to 700 units and to 1,550 nuclear warheads on each side.