MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. The nuclear potential of the entire West, including Great Britain and France, must be considered when developing a more advantageous document on limiting strategic offensive arms, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing while commenting on the US desire to include China in a possible agreement.

The Kremlin spokesman reiterated that Russia respects the position of China, which does not see the need for its inclusion in the treaty. "Beyond these words from representatives of the US administration about China, we must not forget the statements of President Putin that, further on, discussing issues of strategic stability and security without taking into account the arsenals of France and Great Britain also seems unfeasible," Peskov added.

Earlier this month, Trump told The New York Times that he was unbothered by the impending expiration of the New START treaty. "If it expires, it expires. We’ll just do a better agreement," he said.

Meanwhile, Russia’s new Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Dmitry Polyansky, who previously served as First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told TASS that Moscow hopes that the US administration will respond to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s initiative on preserving the limitations imposed by the New START treaty in the format of voluntary self-restrictions after the document expires. Regarding the issue of China's participation, Moscow proceeds from the understanding that this is a matter for Beijing itself and respects any decision of the Chinese side.