"US and North Korea Possible for High-Level Nuclear Disarmament Talks... End-of-War Talks Not Possible"

Sergey Ryabkov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister

Russia announced on the 18th (local time) that additional high-level talks could be possible in connection with discussions on the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the United States scheduled for the end of this month.

According to multiple major foreign media outlets, Sergey Ryabkov, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, told reporters regarding the New START Bilateral Consultative Commission (BCC) meeting to be held in Cairo on the 29th, "If the United States is ready, Russia is also prepared for high-level talks."

He added, "Russia will not give up on new dialogues with the United States even after this meeting."

The New START, signed by the United States and Russia in 2010, centers on reducing the number of nuclear warheads and delivery vehicles to certain limits and conducting regular inspections of each other's nuclear facilities.

The 10-year agreement, which came into effect in February 2011, was extended by mutual consent until February 2026, but further extension negotiations have stalled following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

On the previous day, Deputy Minister Ryabkov announced that the United States and Russia had agreed to hold the New START BCC in Cairo, Egypt, from the 29th of this month to the 6th of next month. This will be the first BCC meeting between the two countries in about 13 months since October last year.

Additionally, Deputy Minister Ryabkov showed a proactive attitude toward prisoner exchanges involving American WNBA player Brittney Griner and American businessman Paul Whelan.

He said, "I hope that the prospects for this issue will not merely be a topical matter but will continue to strengthen until the moment when the two countries reach a concrete agreement."

However, Deputy Minister Ryabkov drew a line, stating that talks with the United States for ending the war in Ukraine are currently impossible.

He said, "Considering the completely opposite positions of the two countries regarding Ukraine, there is nothing to talk about with them."

Recently, with the possibility of a stalemate on the Ukrainian front increasing ahead of winter, peace negotiations have been gaining momentum mainly among the United States and Western countries. Russia claims that it is open to negotiations but that Ukraine is refusing dialogue, and that the United States should persuade Ukraine.

On the previous day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, "We have received signals that Russia wants negotiations," and proposed open negotiations, but the Kremlin stated, "Open negotiations are hard to imagine. Ukraine does not want negotiations."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.