The decision to leave the nuclear weapons negotiations with the United States is based on the strained relations between Moscow and Washington, according to Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) reformulation negotiations were set to begin this week in Cairo, Egypt, but the US State Department said on Monday that Russia had abruptly stopped those negotiations.
Now, Zajarova has maintained at a press conference that she hopes the US side would make “conscientious efforts” to ensure the circumstances that promote a reconciliation between the two countries and result in a fresh round of negotiations on this issue.
According to the TASS news agency, the Russian diplomatic official stressed that Moscow views this issue as crucial and believes that it is imperative to stop an arms race.