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Russian-US strategic stability talks expected to begin in July — diplomat

In his words, more summits will be necessary to ease current Russian-US tensions
Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin Ilya Dmitryachev/TASS
Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin
© Ilya Dmitryachev/TASS

NEW YORK, June 23. /TASS/. Russian-US talks on strategic stability may begin next month, Russia’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrei Kelin said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday.

"We need to re-engage with the United States and we’ll start probably next month, I hope, talks on strategic stability," he said. "It will be a prolongation of the START treaty and I hope it will involve all components necessary for that."

The current level of tensions in Russian-US relations will require more summits in order to achieve a detent, Russia’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrei Kelin said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday.

"We will probably need <…> some [more] summits in order to have certain detent," the Russian diplomat said, commenting on the state of Russian-US relations after the recent meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden.

The Russian-US summit, initiated by Washington, took place in the Swiss city of Geneva on June 16. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden discussed the state and the prospects of the further development of bilateral relations, the issues of strategic security, as well as international matters, including cooperation in the fight against COVID-19 and ironing out regional conflicts. The leaders also announced that the US and Russian ambassadors would return to Moscow and Washington.

During the Geneva summit, Russia and the United States agreed to resume talks on strategic stability in near future. However, no exact timeframe has been announced so far. Whie House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that Washington expected to begin dialogue with Russia in the coming weeks.