MOSCOW, March 7. /TASS/. Russia and the United States must continue their dialogue on nuclear disarmament, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Friday.
"This matter is on the agenda," Peskov said during a press briefing, responding to US President Donald Trump’s recently announced proposal to initiate such discussions between Washington, Moscow, and Beijing.
"We believe that dialogue between Russia and the United States on arms control is crucial, especially concerning strategic stability," he added. "It is critical both from the perspective of the interests of our two nations, and likely for international security."
US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday that the United States would like to discuss denuclearization with Russia and China. Trump pointed out that he had discussed the issue with Moscow and Beijing during his first term in office and would like to resume those consultations. "It would be great if everybody would get rid of their nuclear weapons," the US president stated.
According to Trump, "Russia and us have by far the most. China will have an equal amount within four or five years, and it would be great if we could all denuclearize, because the power of nuclear weapons is crazy. It's crazy."
Previously, Trump said he viewed the use of nuclear weapons or the emergence of new nuclear powers as unacceptable. Moreover, he declared his intention to negotiate with Russia and China on reducing nuclear stockpiles.
After taking office on January 20, Trump sent multiple signals about his willingness to discuss the subject, but has so far put forward no concrete proposals. Among other things, Moscow and Washington need to discuss whether they are ready to forge a deal to replace the New START treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive arms, which expires in 2026.
New START Treaty
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 21, 2023, that Moscow was suspending its participation in New START Treaty but was not withdrawing from it. The head of state emphasized that before resuming discussions about further activities under the treaty, Russia needed to understand how the arsenals of NATO’s other nuclear-weapons countries, the UK and France, would be taken into account along with US capacities.
The treaty stipulated that seven years after its entry into effect, each party should have no more than a total of 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and strategic bombers, as well as no more than 1,550 warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs and strategic bombers, and a total of 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers and strategic bombers.
The ten-year treaty was to expire in February 2021, when Moscow and Washington agreed to extend it for a maximum period of five years, with Russia describing it as the gold standard of disarmament accords.