LONDON, June 28. /TASS/. The world will lose all of its instruments for preventing another arms race if the US-Russian strategic arms reduction treaty (New START) is not extended, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a Financial Times interview published on Thursday.

"So if this treaty ceases to exist, then there would be no instrument in the world to curtail the arms race. And this is bad," the Russian leader said.

According to the newspaper, Trump intimated in a recent conversation with Putin that the US was interested in extending the deal, but no initiative has been forthcoming.

"We said that we are ready to hold talks and to extend this treaty between the United States and Russia, but we have not seen any relevant initiative from our American partners. They keep silent, while the treaty expires in 2021. If we do not begin talks now, it would be over because there would be no time even for formalities," Putin said.

"I hope that I will be able to talk about it with Donald if we happen to meet in Osaka," he added.

When asked about the possibility of signing a trilateral agreement of Russia, China and the United States on the issue of medium-range nuclear forces, Putin replied: "As I said at the very beginning, we will support any agreement that can advance our cause, that is, help us contain the arms race."

"It should be said that so far, the level and the development scale of China’s nuclear forces are much lower than in the United States and Russia," he went on. "China is a huge power that has the capability to build up its nuclear potential. This will likely happen in the future, but so far our capabilities are hardly comparable. Russia and the United States are the leading nuclear powers, which is why the agreement was signed between them. As for whether China will join these efforts, you can ask our Chinese friends.".