US President Joe Biden wants to negotiate nuclear weapons control with Russia. Vladimir Putin meanwhile confirms that he does not want a nuclear first strike, but presents a new hypersonic sea missile.
US President Joe Biden has called on Russia and China to engage in talks on nuclear weapons control. In a statement released on Monday, the US President reiterated that his administration is ready to negotiate “expeditiously” on a replacement for New Start, the US-Russia strategic nuclear arms limit treaty. This expires in 2026.
“Russia should show that it is ready to resume work on nuclear arms control,” Biden said. In particular, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, he sees responsibility in Moscow.
Russia’s “brutal and unprovoked aggression in Ukraine” has “shattered the peace in Europe” and represents “an attack on the fundamental pillars of the international order,” Biden said. He stressed that Russia and the US in particular, as nuclear superpowers, have a responsibility to set the tone and ensure the viability of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons technology around the world.
The Kremlin reacted with surprise to Biden’s statements: “Is this a serious message or was the White House website hacked?” Reuters news agency quoted a representative of the Russian foreign ministry as saying.
All voices and developments on the Ukraine war here in the ticker.