US and Russia to resume nuclear talks, but China casts cloud
- US and Russian officials are set to meet in Vienna on June 22 for a new round of arms-control talks.
- China reiterates lack of interest in joining new round of talks
Russia called on the United States to make a “positive” proposal as the powers open talks on a major disarmament treaty, warning that US insistence on including China could scuttle efforts.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov will meet in Vienna on June 22 with US envoy Marshall Billingslea to start negotiations on New START, which expires in February.
US President Donald Trump has walked out on a number of international agreements but voiced a general interest in preserving New START, which obliged the United States and Russia to halve their inventories of strategic nuclear missile launchers.
But the Trump administration says that a successor to New START, a Cold War legacy negotiated under Barack Obama, should bring in China – whose nuclear arsenal is growing but remains significantly smaller than those of Russia and the United States.
Addressing the Council on Foreign Relations by videoconference, Ryabkov described the US willingness to start negotiations as “good news” but said: “The ball is on the American part of the court.”
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China’s DF-26 ballistic missile drill sends ‘clear message’ to the U.S.
“We need to hear loudly and clearly what this administration wants, how it believes it would be possible to do something positive and not just to dismantle one arms control treaty or arrangement after another.”
