MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. The icy relations between Washington and Moscow mean that the world should get ready for an era where Russia and the United States do not have any arms control treaties in place, a Russian expert told TASS.

According to Dmitry Suslov, a Valdai Club expert and deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics (HSE University), the United States is still open to talking about strategic stability with Russia. "The [US President Joe] Biden administration’s position, and if a Democratic candidate wins the election, this position will stay in place, is that they are ready for talks right now, despite the general context of Russian-US relations, despite the hybrid war the US is waging against Russia, and despite the US attempts to deal a strategic defeat on Russia," he explained.

"The Biden administration will not agree to curb its support for Ukraine or fulfill Russia’s terms for the sake of extending the New START treaty or launching talks on a new treaty or agreement on its further extension in 2026 or earlier," the expert said. "If Donald Trump wins, there will be no extension of the treaty. And, as a matter of fact, Russia is preparing for the likely dissolution of New START in 2026 or even earlier, when we will enter a qualitatively new stage of strategic stability without major arms control treaties between Russia and the United States."

According to Suslov, things have been moving this way for some time now. "This isn’t only because of the US president, but because of the general nature of Russian-US relations, which are in a state of a hybrid war. And because it is unacceptable for the United States to sign any new binding treaty with Russia without factoring in China. Moreover, the distinctions between nuclear and strategic non-nuclear arms have been blurred. That is why it became clear long ago that the era of major treaties is coming to an end and we should brace ourselves for a period, probably an extended period or even an era, of no such major treaties," he said.

The analyst stressed that Russia is vehement that "the United States stop its hybrid war on Russia" before a strategic stability dialogue can be started again. "But the United States will not end its hybrid war for the sake of strategic stability talks with Russia," Suslov added.