VIENNA: The United States and Russia hold talks in Vienna today where they discussed nuclear weapons agreement and arms control.
The United States and Russia have kicked off two-day arms control talks, eight months before a key nuclear weapons pact is to expire.
US Ambassador Marshall Billingslea and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov discussed the future of the New START treaty, which was agreed in 2010 and expires in February next year.
President Trump has already scrapped several treaties with Russia on over flights and on intermediate-range nuclear forces.
Both the countries are estimated to have about 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.
The US has said its bilateral arms control agreements with Russia are outdated and that it wants China to be included in any future agreements on nuclear weapons, even as Beijing has repeatedly said it is not interested in joining.
“Beijing still hiding behind ‘Great Wall of Secrecy’ on its crash nuclear build-up, and so many other things. We will proceed with Russia, notwithstanding,” Billingslea said in a statement.
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Dmitry Suslov, a Russian security expert, told state media before Monday’s meeting that the US appears unlikely to prolong the New START agreement without bringing China to the table.
