WASHINGTON, February 20. /TASS/. The American administration expects to push forward with the development and production of nuclear weapons, Greg Mello, head of the Los Alamos Study Group in New Mexico, said.

"The Trump Administration is taking the NNSA (NNSA under the US Energy Department — TASS) in a very hawkish direction. Everything nuclear is to be speeded up," Mello said in a statement issued by the group of public activists he heads.

"Now," Mello says, "there is essentially nothing being released, not to the public and we believe in most cases not to Congress either. Almost none of what I recently heard first-hand from NNSA officials is being openly discussed."

Almost nothing that Mello has heard recently from representatives of the National Security Council is being openly discussed, he said after a January 26-28 international conference on nuclear deterrence held in Washington. According to Mello, "journalists need to pay close attention, because at least some information about these new programs and the way the agency is now being run is certain to come out this spring."

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START Treaty), the last of the international legal restrictions on the deployment of nuclear weapons, expired on February 5 and was not extended through the fault of the United States. Washington said it expects to sign a better document by involving China.

On September 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow is ready to adhere to the restrictions for another year after the New START Treaty expires, adding though the measure is viable only if Washington acts similarly. A few days later, the American administration positively assessed the initiative of the Russian leader, but issued no official response.