Russia and the United States are discussing the possibility of consulting their respective strategic nuclear arsenals at the end of this month, with the possibility of resuming inspections under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
The purpose of conducting the consultations was put forth today by two Russian newspapers, Kommersant and Izvestia, after US national security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed the existence of contacts on Monday evening.
“Moscow and Washington are discussing the possibility of meeting with the bilateral commission on strategic offensive weapons in the coming weeks.” reports the current edition of Kommersant.
According to the same newspaper, the meeting – the first face-to-face meeting since the beginning of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine, in February – should take place “in late November or early December” in a country in the Middle East.
Previously, these meetings were always held in Geneva.
For its part, the newspaper Izvestia says that “if Washington does not put obstacles in the way, the meeting to resume inspections under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty could take place soon.”
This information published by the Russian press was brought up after US media revealed that high-level talks are underway between Russian and US national security advisers to ease tensions between the two countries, especially those regarding the possible use of nuclear weapons.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zajarova also said today, without elaborating further, that Moscow maintains “specific contacts” with Washington on matters “which require it.”
“We are open to dialogue on issues of mutual interest,” he said, quoted by the TASS agency.
Ukraine has warned of the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview given to the British BBC in October that Moscow is not yet ready to use this type of weapon, but is preparing to do so. to do. if.
At the same time, US President Joe Biden stated that the Russian threat to use nuclear weapons has brought the world closer to “Armageddon” than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis during the Cold War.
Source: DN
