MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. Some forces in the United States seek to contain both Russia and China, President of the Institute of the World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, academician Alexander Dynkin told TASS.

"There are forces in the United States that do not share [President] Donald Trump's approach to Russia's proposal to maintain the New START Treaty ceilings of 550 warheads and 700 carriers," Dynkin said. "They claim that his refusal to extend the treaty opens the Pandora's box of the arms race. There are such forces there. I know who represents them, but so far they have not prevailed."

According to him, the Pentagon's fantastic budget, which was requested by these forces, "indicates that another part of the political establishment is determined to contain Russia and China at the same time. That's why the budget is so monstrous."

According to Dynkin, the very difficult nuclear deterrence negotiations will take at least a year. "And the biggest difficulty in such negotiations is the internal consensus," he said. "It is necessary not only to convince the opponent, but also to coordinate positions within the country, because there are many different views on this issue. Moreover, our strategic potential has been greatly modernized."