MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/. The termination of the arms race could start with the elimination of the US chemical weapon stockpiles, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
The Russian diplomat thus commented on US President Donald Trump’s call to Russia on his Twitter page to stop the arms race.
"An excellent idea! There is a suggestion to start with the elimination of American chemical weapons," she pointed out.
Relations between the United States and Russia are currently worse than they have ever been, Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday, adding that the current arms race needs to be stopped.
"Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?" the tweet reads.
The United States is eliminating chemical weapon stockpiles under the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which it signed.
The Convention that went into force in 1997 stipulates that chemical weapons must be eliminated no later than 10 years after the document’s entry into force. However, the Pentagon has shifted the deadline of completing the program of eliminating its chemical weapon stockpiles several years now: from 2007 to 2012, then to 2017, to 2021 and, finally, to 2023.
Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 11 April 2018