MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th August, 2020) The Russian deputy foreign minister in charge of nonproliferation and his US counterpart will meet in Vienna on Monday for two days of talks on arms control, aimed at extending a pact that caps their nuclear weapon stocks.
The New START, the last major arms control deal between the two nuclear powers, will expire in February. The United States hopes to negotiate a successor deal that would include China, an ambition seen as unrealistic in both Moscow and Beijing.
Marshall Billingslea, the chief US negotiator, tweeted ahead of the talks that he would lead one of the highest level delegations ever and expected Russia to reciprocate the move with the same seriousness.
Russia's Sergey Ryabkov told media on Sunday that he did not expect much from the new round of talks, which would follow up on their June 22 meeting and expert consultations in late July. He explained that the countries diverged too much in several aspects.
The Russian diplomat added, however, that the fact the Cold-War era rivals were discussing the subject of arms control was a good thing, since the two powers had no talks on the matter three months ago.�
In a Sunday interview with the Russian Kommersant daily, Ryabkov said he wanted the talks to go beyond "warheads and transparency" and cover other nuclear-capable carrier weapons. Billingslea said on Friday he had discussed ground-launched cruise missiles with NATO envoys in Vienna.
