US plans to discuss possibility of new nuclear arms treaty at consultations with Russia

The United States plans to discuss a possibility of a new accord limiting nuclear arms that could eventually include China at Geneva consultations with Russia on July 17-18, senior US officials told Reuters on Monday.

US officials noted that the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) will not be discussed at the talks and said that Washington does not expect any breakthrough at the consultations.

"A good meeting would be some greater clarity about where the Russians see things going with the Chinese," one US official said. However, another official noted that China is not a party to nuclear arms treaties between the US and Russia and it is unclear how willing Beijing would be to participate in talks on this issue.

Taking about the possibility of renewing the New START that expires in 2021, one of the officials said that it would be "premature" as this matter consitutes a "next-year problem."

The new round of talks on stratgic stability between Russia and the US will take place in Geneva on July 17-18. The US delegation will be led by Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, and the Russian delegation will be led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov.