The US and Russia agreed to hold talks on the New START nuclear treaty for the first time since the Ukraine war began in February, according to the State Department.
Spokesman Ned Price was asked at a news conference on Tuesday about a Bloomberg report that said the Russians and Americans might meet in Cairo to discuss the treaty.
Price said the report was referring New START Treaty’s Bilateral Consultative Commission, or the BCC.
“That’s the bilateral mechanism for discussing treaty implementation issues under the New START Treaty. We have agreed that the BCC will meet in the near future under the terms of the New START Treaty,” he said.
The spokesman said the work of the BCC is confidential “but we do hope for a constructive session.”
The latest session of the BCC was held in Geneva in October 2021.
Russia suspended American inspections of its nuclear weapons sites under the treaty in August.
The first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, START I, was signed in 1991 between the US and the USSR at a time when there were thousands of nuclear warheads. It took effect in 1994.
In 2010, former US President Barack Obama and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a successor agreement, New START, which set a limit of no more than 1,550 deployed warheads and 700 missiles, including inspections to verify compliance with the deal.
Source: Anadolu Agency