MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th May, 2019) Russia considers the extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and solving all problems related to the treaty to be of Primary importance, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Sputnik commenting on the idea of US President Donald Trump to sign a trilateral nuclear arms treaty between the United States, Russia and China.
On Friday, Trump told reporters that he would soon enter into bilateral talks with Russia on a new nuclear arms control "deal" that could see both sides reduce their arsenals, adding that the negotiations could eventually be expanded to include China. According to Trump, Beijing, during trade negotiations, has expressed interest in being part of such deal.
"I think that as a priority, we and our colleagues from the United States should focus on the extension of the New START, concluded in 2010. For this purpose, it is necessary to solve several problems related to the artificial removal from the [missile] count by Washington of a large part of its strategic carriers," Ryabkov said.
"Then we should extend the treaty in order to get a certain amount of time, a certain time range to discuss what to do next. From our point of view, this should be a priority today," the deputy foreign minister said.
