US ready to talk to Russia about nuclear risks without mentioning Ukraine
Washington is ready to talk with Moscow about nuclear risks and arms control issues that are not related to the Ukraine conflict, a representative of the White House National Security Council (NSC) confirmed.
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“We remain open to dialogue with Russia on nuclear risk and arms control,” an NSC spokesman said, adding that the White House had never linked those discussions to the conflict in Ukraine.
According to the NSC representative, the United States is also ready to discuss with the Russian Federation not only the nuclear risks but also the form of the agreement, which will succeed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), and has repeatedly informed Moscow about Washington's readiness. At the same time, the White House noted that Washington's proposals were rejected due to the country's continued support for Kiev.
For his part, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev affirmed that the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) could only be implemented after the US refused to supply weapons to Kiev and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. Russian officials said that the US was quite serious when proposing that Russia negotiate a new treaty, but continued to supply weapons to Kiev.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country could make changes to its nuclear doctrine, amid discussions about potentially lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons.
