The United States and Russia are due to hold discussions on strategic stability in Helsinki on Monday, according to Russian news agency Tass.
The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed to the state organ that consultations will take place in Helsinki on 5 October.
According to the Russian publication Kommersant, the Russian delegation will be led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Rjabkov while a US delegation will be headed by Special Representative of the President for Arms Control Marshall Billingsley.
The countries’ bilateral nuclear arms limitation treaty, the so-called New Start Treaty is due to expire in February 2021. While the nuclear powers have been discussing a new agreement, previous talks have not borne fruit.
The United States has reportedly set conditions for a new agreement that Russia has said it is not ready to accept.
Both sides last met in August in Vienna, Austria. According to Kommersant, the Helsinki meeting will determine whether or not an agreement is possible and if it is, what kind of time frame is involved.
The publication said that it is possible that the negotiations will yield no result. The Helsinki meeting will be the last nuclear arms limitation talks before November’s US presidential election.
Two years ago in July 2018, Helsinki was the backdrop for a historic bilateral summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The APN podcast had all the details on that summit. You can listen to the full podcast via the embedded player here or via Yle Areena, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or your usual podcast player using the RSS feed.
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