The United States and Russia have agreed to resume holding meetings under the New Start nuclear arms reduction treaty that have been paused since before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday.
Price said the bilateral consultative commission (BCC), the mechanism for implementation of the treaty — the last remaining arms control agreement between the world’s two largest nuclear powers — will meet “in the near future.”
Russia in August suspended cooperation with inspections under the treaty, blaming travel restrictions imposed by Washington and its allies over the February invasion of Ukraine, but said it was still committed to complying with the provisions of the treaty.
New Start, which took effect in 2011, caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy, and the deployment of land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them.
The BCC is meant to meet twice a year, but last met in October 2021, shortly before Russia began moving forces to its border with Ukraine.
Russian newspaper Kommersant said earlier on Tuesday that talks between the two countries on strategic nuclear weapons were set to resume and may take place in the Middle East.
Price said Washington hoped for “a constructive session,” did not specify the date or location for the meeting.
“We are clear eyed – we’re realistic about what dialogue between the United States and Russia … can entail and what it can accomplish,” Price told reporters at a regular news briefing.
“We have focused on risk reduction in these conversations, but we’ve been very intentional about seeing to it that the ability of our two countries to pass messages back and forth and to engage in dialogue has not — does not — atrophy.”
