UNITED NATIONS, May 06. /ITAR-TASS/. Differences over Ukraine have not told on the cooperation between Russia and the United States in the sphere of disarmament, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s security and disarmament department, Mikhail Ulyanov, said.

“The differences on Ukraine have virtually not affected the sphere of nonproliferation and armament control,” Ulyanov told ITAR-TASS on Monday.

“We have not imposed sanctions against the United States in the sphere, and American partners have not done that either - apparently proceeding from the fact that cooperation between our countries, cooperation of the ‘Nuclear Five’ in this field meets the interests of Washington. I think it is also in our interests to a certain extent,” he said.

According to Ulyanov, Moscow and Washington have suspended at the moment “a conversation on major strategic issues,” including on missile defence and further nuclear weapons reduction.

Russia was not ready for nuclear weapons cuts, while a dialogue on missile defence had stalled even “before the Ukrainian developments,” he explained.

“Cooperation continues on other sections and directions,” the diplomat added, saying the American side had repeatedly expressed hope that the situation around Ukraine would not affect cooperation on Iran and Syria. “They put much value upon it. Cooperation on these issues continues on an almost daily basis,” he said. The diplomat said last week Russia and the US discussed at the UN headquarters the operation to liquidate Syrian chemical weapons.

Ulyanov leads the Russian delegation to a third session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.