Russia postpones US nuclear talks

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow's decision to postpone talks with the US, expected to be held this week in Cairo dealt with by the political level.

“We are facing a situation when our American colleagues are not showing that they are willing to listen to our signals, nor take into account our priorities”, he told reporters in Moscow.

Ryabkov claimed the US has wanted to focus talks only on restarting inspections under the New Treaty START and has ignored Moscow's demands to discuss specific issues related to weapons that are part of the treaty aimed at limiting strategic weapons.

The US said on November 28th that Moscow has decided unilaterally to postpone Cairo's talks and has said it will propose new dates for holding them.

The U.S. State Department has expressed readiness to participate in the talks, adding that it expects them to be maintained as soon as possible, as “rincing inspections is a priority to preserve the treaty as a instrument of stability”.

New Treaty START, which went into effect in 2011, limits the number of strategic nuclear heads the US and Russia can delocate, and also limits the delocation of land missiles and those deployed on the submarine.

Days before the treaty expired in February 2021, Russia and the United States agreed to extend it for another five years.

In August, Russia declared it would temporarily ban US inspections, arguing that travel restrictions, sanctions against Russian air companies -- which are imposed by the US and its allies -- have made it difficult for Russian military experts to visit US nuclear plants to conduct inspections.