Kremlin deliberately delays negotiations with US on nuclear arms control - Bezsmertnyi

He expressed this opinion on the air of the Espreso TV channel.

"Every year in February, the states that signed the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons meet in order to renew the agreement and restart the mechanism of control and monitoring of nuclear weapons. For the past three years, Russia has refused to sign documents at these meetings," Bezsmertnyi explained.

The diplomat emphasized that the refusal to negotiate with the USA is a component of nuclear blackmail of the Russian Federation.

"Throughout this year, Washington emphasized several times that Russia signed the nuclear non-proliferation agreement. The US and Russia agreed that consultations on this issue will be held from November 26 to December 6. However, the Kremlin is deliberately delaying negotiations with the US on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. This is a component of nuclear blackmail," he added.

On November 2, The New York Times, citing sources in the US administration, previously wrote that, according to intelligence, Russian generals discussed the conditions under which Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. The Kremlin denied this information.

On November 14, the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns, held a meeting with the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, in the Turkish capital, Ankara.