Leaked information: Putin proposed a series of arms control initiatives to Trump
(Baonghean.vn) - On August 8, Russian news agency TASS cited a source from Politico on August 7, confirming that a leaked Russian document showed that President Vladimir Putin proposed to his US counterpart Donald Trump at the July 16 summit in Helsinki a series of specific initiatives on arms control.
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| US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: TASS |
According to the source, the Russian document titled “Dialogue on Arms Control Issues” proposes “a five-year extension of the New START Treaty limiting nuclear weapons.”
“The Russian document outlines several areas where the two countries could work together to reduce nuclear threats and rebuild some of the trust that has been lost,” Politico wrote.
The newspaper added, “according to a person involved in recent informal arms control talks in Moscow, the new details provide evidence that Putin remains interested in maintaining the two countries’ traditional cooperation on nuclear weapons despite all the other discord between them.”
The Politico article also mentioned the growing tensions in Eastern Europe, saying that Washington and Moscow should “take measures to prevent incidents while conducting military operations in Europe, as well as increase trust and transparency in the military sphere.”
The document calls on both sides to “initiate expert-level consultations to identify destabilizing weapons and carefully consider including them in the arms control mechanism.”
The document asserts that consultations on “strategic stability” should be led by deputy foreign ministers, who can discuss some “thorny” issues, including Syria. The document also proposes launching a 2+2 dialogue between the US Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense and their Russian counterparts.
John Rood, the US undersecretary of defense for policy, confirmed in July that the process was underway to arrange “a time, date and location to hold talks on strategic stability,” the newspaper said.
The first formal talks between Putin and Trump took place in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16. The one-on-one meeting between the two leaders lasted more than two hours. Afterwards, members of both delegations joined the presidents for a working lunch. The expanded session also lasted nearly two hours, with discussions on important bilateral and global issues. Both presidents said after the meeting that a big step forward had been made.