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Russia has postponed and without explanation the scheduled resumption of arms control talks this week, Biden’s administration announced Monday.
The State Department said Russia had “unilaterally postponed” a Bilateral Advisory Commission assembly that was scheduled to begin Tuesday in Egypt and last until next week.
He said Russia had promised to propose new dates but had provided some explanation for the delay.
“The United States is in a position to postpone as soon as possible the resumption of inspections as a precedent to sustain the treaty as a tool of stability,” the branch said.
Commission highlights U. S. inspections The U. S. and Russia will take each other’s military sites under the New START treaty, the last major arms pact between Washington and Moscow.
The commission has not met for more than a year, first due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but has since stalled due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Open lines of communication despite other differences.
In delivering the planned resumption of talks, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the talks would focus entirely on implementing the New START inspection procedure and would come with any discussion of the confrontation in Ukraine.
“We are deeply around the world in the transformative force and importance of international relations and dialogue,” Price said Nov. 8.
“It demonstrates our commitment to threat reduction, strategic stability, to which we remain committed, that is deeply of bilateral interest, and we hope that the next assembly will be constructive,” he said.
Inspections of the US and Russian New START military sites were halted on both sides due to the spread of the coronavirus in March 2020.
The commission last met in October 2021, but Russia unilaterally suspended cooperation with the treaty’s inspection provisions in August to protest against the United States over Ukraine.
“We have clarified to Russia that the measures imposed as a result of Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine do not prevent you, the Russians and Russian inspectors, from conducting New START Treaty inspections in the United States,” Price said. “So we hope that the BCC assembly will allow us to continue with those inspections. “
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