News / Russia

US expresses interest in discussing arms control, Russia ready to go ahead

Tuesday, 14 April 2020 3:08 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 14 April 2020 3:09 PM ]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is seen after a joint news conference with his Finnish counterpart, Pekka Haavisto (not pictured), in the House of the Estates in Helsinki, Finland, on March 3, 2020. (Photo by Reuters)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the United States has expressed interest in holding talks with Russia about arms control, months after Washington pulled out of a missile treaty with Moscow.

The top Russian diplomat made the announcement during an online press conference on Tuesday, saying that his American counterpart, Mike Pompeo, had earlier expressed America’s interest to resume talks, Russia’s Sputnik news agency reported.

“[US Secretary of State] Mike Pompeo called me couple of weeks ago. I want to discuss this matter with him via a telephone talk in the coming days. [He] touched upon the issue of arms control and strategic stability in general. We welcome the interest of our American partners in this topic as we have long urged them to work on these issues more actively,” Lavrov said.

He added that Moscow was ready to discuss the development of hypersonic weapons with Washington.

However, he said issues about global strategic stability would be discussed by the two sides once the current COVID-19 pandemic was over.

Tensions between the two former Cold War adversaries escalated in early August last year, when Washington formally and unilaterally pulled out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which had banned all land-based missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.

Russia says US cruise missile test ‘regrettable’

Russia says the recent test-firing of a ground-based cruise missile by the United States is “regrettable.”

Washington alleged at the time that Moscow had first violated the INF by test-firing a missile that had been banned under the pact. Russia denied the allegation and publicly disclosed the specifics of the missile in question to refute the US accusation.

Later that same month, the Pentagon announced that it had tested a type of a ground-launched missile that had been banned under the bilateral pact.

Both Russia and China renewed a warning at the time that the testing of the missile would trigger an arms race.