MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. Russia-US talks on strategic security are necessary, but there are no plans to hold them at the moment, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"So far there are no plans in this regard, although there definitely should be," the Kremlin spokesman said in response to a question whether it was possible to start negotiations with the US on strategic security in the current circumstances.
Peskov did not talk about the exchange of information between Moscow and Washington in connection with the US announcement that it would stop transferring data on its weapons to Russia under the New Start Treaty. "The exchange of information goes through diplomatic channels, so here you have to go to the Foreign Ministry," the Kremlin spokesman said when asked whether the US had informed Russia of its actions.
On Thursday, the US State Department issued a statement saying that as of June 1, US authorities would stop providing Russia with data on the status of its strategic weapons covered by New START.
On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia was suspending its participation in the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) but is not withdrawing from it. The president stressed that before returning to the discussion of the extension of the New START Treaty, the Russian side wants to understand how the treaty will take into account not only the United States’ arsenals but also stockpiles of other NATO nuclear powers, namely the United Kingdom and France. On March 1, the president signed a law on the suspension of Russia’s participation in New START.