Russian-American talks began in Vienna on arms control, and officials in both countries did not rule out the option to extend the "New Start 3" treaty for nuclear weapons, which expires 8 months from now, while expectations of this round seem modest.

The Russian Ambassador to Austria Dmitry Lubinsky said that the talks held in a historic palace in the Austrian capital began today, Monday, between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and Marshal Billingsley, the US President's special representative on arms control.

The round of talks in Vienna is scheduled to end on Tuesday morning, although diplomats said it could last for several days.

There were no official statements on the content of these meetings, but the US envoy made it clear that it would address nuclear weapons, noting that it would include the replacement of the Newstar Treaty to limit strategic weapons that expires in February next year.

The Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, announced before the start of the Vienna meetings today, that the extension of the Newstar Treaty will be discussed among the main topics of discussion during the Vienna talks.

The United States has said that its bilateral arms control agreements with Russia are outdated, and wants to include China in any future nuclear arms agreement, despite Beijing's repeated assertion that it is not interested in joining those agreements.

In addition to differences between the United States and Russia, Washington's insistence that Beijing include any future strategic agreement could lead to the failure of the current talks, which political analysts say may not yield any progress.

The current New Start treaty imposes the last remaining restrictions on the United States and Russia's deployment of strategic nuclear weapons. It stipulates that neither country will deploy more than 1,550 weapons and 700 strategic bombers, and the treaty can be extended for 5 years if the parties agree.

Russia and the United States still together possess more than 90% of nuclear weapons in the world, according to the latest report issued by the International Institute for Peace Research in Stockholm.

According to the same source, the United States has about 5,800 nuclear warheads, while Russia has 6,375 warheads, compared to 320 for China, 290 for France and 215 for Britain.