WASHINGTON, July 1. /TASS/. Washington and Moscow need to resume strategic stability dialogue, while Russia and NATO members must refrain from threatening nuclear rhetoric, head of the Washington-based Arms Control Association Daryl Kimball told TASS.

“Russian and NATO leaders must sober-up and refrain from threatening nuclear rhetoric and actions that increase the risk of nuclear escalation, such as moving to deploy tactical nuclear weapons, putting strategic weapons on higher alert levels, or developing new types of nuclear weapons designed for fighting and ‘winning’ a regional nuclear war,” he pointed out, commenting on NATO’s new Strategic Concept.

“We also encourage Washington and Moscow to resume their Strategic Stability Dialogue at an early date - something both sides say they support - and reach agreement on new mechanisms to maintain common sense restraints on their bloated nuclear stockpiles as the February 2026 expiry date for New START approaches,” Kimball noted, referring to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).

According to him, “the NATO Strategic Concept reflects growing European concerns about Russia’s territorial ambitions and the willingness of President Putin to use military force to achieve his objectives.” The expert also said that as a result of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, “we are now in an even more dangerous action-reaction cycle of military escalation that threatens the security of all parties.”

“The NATO Summit in Madrid has advanced several lines of effort amid impressive transatlantic unity,” Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and professor of international affairs at Georgetown University in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of Government, told TASS. “The alliance will continue to provide Ukraine the means to defend itself against Russian aggression. More US military capability will be deployed to Europe as the alliance strengthens NATO's eastern flank. Finland and Sweden will soon join NATO. Putin invaded Ukraine to put Kiev under Moscow's sway and deal a blow to NATO. The opposite has happened,” the expert noted.

NATO’s new Strategic Concept, adopted at the bloc’s summit in Madrid, defines Russia as “the most significant and direct threat.”