MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/. The Russian-US working group on strategic stability issues will hold its first consultations in mid-July, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told TASS on Tuesday.

He noted that representatives had agreed on setting up several expert groups, including on space, at the consultations held in Vienna. "There are other areas that experts will work in," he went on to say. "These are both conceptual approaches to nuclear affairs and arms control and more mundane issues, which are quite numerous."

"We hope that such meetings will take place starting in mid-July, as soon as the situation allows for face-to-face contacts in a relatively acceptable manner, given the persisting [coronavirus-related] restrictions," Ryabkov said.

He expressed the hope that Russian and US experts would be able to "gain a good pace to pave the way for greater understanding and certain agreements with the United States in the future." "The road to them will undoubtedly be long and difficult, given the substantial differences in our approaches," he added.

The Russian-US strategic stability dialogue, which was frozen for almost half a year against the backdrop of the collapse of the system of agreements in that area, resumed on Monday. Ryabkov’s consultations with US Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control Marshall Billingslea held in Austria’s capital lasted more than nine hours.