Senior government officials from the US and Russia held talks in Switzerland on Wednesday to debate strategic nuclear stability, After about a month since the meeting of US Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin.
Wednesday's talks are the first of their kind on the subject this year. Biden and Putin met for several hours in Geneva on June 16 to discuss a range of topics, including nuclear security.
The US and Russian deputy foreign ministers are meeting behind closed doors in what could be the start of new disarmament talks. https://t.co/d7X2NAu0dq
— swissinfo.ch (@swissinfo_en) July 28, 2021
Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov are leading the meeting.
Sherman and Ryabkov are expected, among other items, to discuss arms control, cyberattacks and Ukraine.
Experts say both countries have a lot of ground to make up on the issues, owing mostly to the deterioration of relations between Washington and Moscow in recent years.
"We are sending the Americans a signal that they should not be naive and think that the conversation will only go according to their agenda," Ryabkov said this month, according to TASS.
US and Russian officials will open a “strategic stability” dialogue Wednesday in Geneva — talks meant to lay the groundwork for future arms control and to reduce the risk of nuclear war.https://t.co/Gnu2nRIo7P
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) July 28, 2021
Earlier this month, Biden called on Putin to crack down on ransomware groups originating in Russia targeting the United States.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
