MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. The issue of strategic offensive arms reduction should be considered with due regard for the changed situation in the world, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told the media.

The Kremlin spokesman commented on a remark by a high-ranking source of the daily Izvestiya that Russia will not sign another strategic arms treaty with the United States.

"Although this is an impersonal piece of information citing some source, generally its meaning is identical to the statement that our head of state [Vladimir Putin] made earlier this year," Peskov pointed out.

He recalled Putin's statement to the effect that due to the changed conditions it was practically impossible to discuss strategic offensive weapons and arsenals without taking into account the military nuclear infrastructure in Europe, without including European states in the negotiation process and without touching upon other elements of strategic security, and that Russia will not do so.

"We must look soberly at the situation that has developed and, taking into account all new aspects, build the negotiation process in this way," Peskov said. "It seems to us that it would be at least unreasonable to insist on conducting such negotiations pretending that nothing has happened. Russia is not going to do that."

The New START treaty limited the number of intercontinental ballistic and some other missiles and nuclear warheads for Russia and the United States. In February 2023, Putin said that Moscow was suspending its participation in New START but not withdrawing from it altogether. The Russian side, before it may resume the dialogue on the treaty, wants to have clarity as to how the strategic arms reduction treaty will take into account the arsenals not only of the United States, but also of NATO's other nuclear powers: Britain and France.

Earlier, the Russian president repeatedly said that it was the US that had destroyed the fundamental documents that constituted the basis of international stability and security. At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that the issue of creating a legal basis for international security and strategic stability needs to be resolved. In Putin's opinion, a dialogue would have to be kept on the back burner until after the presidential election in the US.