MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. Moscow and Washington currently have no dialogue about nuclear arms control, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with the International Affairs magazine.

When asked whether the current state of the nuclear arms control talks between Russia and the United States could be described as a "deep freeze," he noted that there are no such talks at all.

"There are no such talks, moreover, not even a systemic dialogue on this matter," he stressed, adding that it was the Americans who "unilaterally cut off dialogue."

"Talks constitute a specific genre and a specific format," he noted. "They require a detailed agenda agreed upon by the sides. They require systematizing even interim results. Typically, every day of official talks is crowned by a protocol the sides are supposed to sign to avoid ambiguity about what happened and what prospects there are for the future. Delegations need to clearly understand where to start from later."

However, "this correct practice is a relic of the past," he said. "There are neither periodic nor even sporadic meetings on this topic involving experts, representatives from agencies."