MONITORING DESK
WASHINGTON: Moscow has accused Washington of toxic anti-Russian behaviour, which it used as a justification for pulling out of the talks earlier this week, but the State Department insisted that Washington is still ready to speak with Russia about a nuclear treaty.
This week in Cairo, during negotiations for the New START nuclear pact, Russia withdrew. New START, the last remaining weapons agreement of its sort between the two largest nuclear powers in the world, restricts the number of atomic warheads that can be deployed by each side and has both symbolic and practical value.
At a press conference on Friday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said, “We do continue to be ready to engage with Russia on the New Start Treaty.” For us, New START is important.
The two nations’ ties have reached their most hostile point in 60 years as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. As a result, Washington has imposed waves of sanctions against Moscow and provided Kyiv with economic and military aid for tens of billions of dollars.
Moscow-Washington talks
On November 29, representatives from the two nations were scheduled to meet in Egypt to discuss matters related to the pact, such as the possibility of restarting nuclear arsenal inspections that had been put on hold owing to the COVID-19 epidemic.
Price said on Friday that the meeting’s agenda included all of the issues that Russia had raised, and he added that the United States was disappointed in Russia for its “unilateral action over the last several months.”
The Russian foreign ministry charged that Washington was seeking to “wholly illegitimately” change the balance of forces covered by the pact by changing or rebranding weapons in order to exempt them from the agreement.
Nevertheless, a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry said this week that Russia continued to see New START as a crucial instrument for preserving predictability and preventing an arms race. She also expressed hope that the two sides may meet to discuss these concerns in 2023.
