President Donald Trump claimed yesterday that arms control talks with Russia are going well and that China will eventually be included. “At the same time, with Russia we are right now negotiating a non-proliferation treaty, which is very important.… At some point, we’ll include China into those talks, but we’re doing very well with Russia on nuclear non-proliferation,” the president said, referring to the Vienna talks led by his special envoy Marshall Billingslea, reported TASS.
A senior Pentagon official Dr. Robert Soofer, who was a key architect of the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, had made similar comments to the Air Force Association on Sept. 2, but had also accused Russia of initiating an arms race in the sphere of non-strategic weapons.
Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov proposed a constructive face-to-face dialogue on strategic stability and arms control to the Pentagon in response to Soofer.
