The United States of America (USA) and Russia will hold the dialogue on nuclear arms control on January 10, a White House official confirmed today. While the talks will be mostly about post-Cold War nuclear arms control treaties, it is expected that there will be some coverage about the standoff over Ukraine. This means the meeting is expected to lay emphasis on the tensions over military build-up around Ukraine, where Russia has deployed a large combat force on the border.
“The United States looks forward to engaging with Russia”, said the National Security Council of USA. The spokesperson further added that “President Biden’s approach on Ukraine has been clear and consistent: unite the alliance behind the two tracks- deterrence and diplomacy”.
“When we sit down to talk, Russia can put its concerns on the table and we will put our concerns on the table with Russia’s activities as well’, said the Russian counterpart.
Russia already occupies a swath of Ukraine in the Crimean peninsula and is accused of fomenting a separatist pro-Moscow rebellion in the industrial east of the country. Contrarily, Western capitals accuse Putin of threatening to invade Ukraine to break it from Moscow’s sphere of influence and eventually join the NATO alliance.