MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Rose Gottemoeller have discussed issues including arms regulations, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said in a statement.
"The issues of arms control and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) within the framework of the bilateral Russian-American agenda and the wider international context were discussed,” the statement, released on Monday, says.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Ryabkov and Gottemoeller met in Berlin on Monday.
The diplomat stressed that Russia's response could involve the revision of cooperation with Washington both within the framework of the New START treaty and in the area of non-proliferation.
The first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) was signed by then presidents George H. W. Bush of the United States and Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union in 1991. The treaty expired in 2009 and another deal, entitled New START, was signed between Russia and the United States in 2010, coming into force the following year.
New START stipulates limiting the number of deployed ballistic missiles and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments to 700, the number of deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550, and deployed and non-deployed launchers to 800. The treaty is valid until 2021 but may be extended for an additional period of up to five years.
