China News Agency, Moscow, August 18th According to TASS news, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov said in Vienna on the 18th that Russia and the United States have achieved certain results in the arms control negotiations, but the differences are still large.

  Ryabkov said that the negotiation arrangements between the two sides are very close and they have conducted in-depth discussions on many aspects. With the deepening of negotiations with the US, the two sides noticed that the negotiations have become more and more pragmatic and that there are fewer and fewer negative comments.

  Ryabkov said that the possibility of the United States extending the "New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty" still exists, but they have room for further action. They tried to create some problems and waited for the Russian side to cater to their demands. In general, they will avoid answering whether they plan to extend the treaty without preconditions.

  Ryabukov said that Russia and the United States have yet to set the date for the expert group meeting and comprehensive inter-departmental meeting on strategic stability. The two sides have not thoroughly analyzed the materials prepared during the expert group meeting from July 27 to 30.

  According to RIA Novosti, quoting Billingsley, the US President’s special envoy for arms control affairs, the US is satisfied with the seriousness of Russia’s negotiations. In general, negotiations are valuable to both parties. We discussed a wide range of international security issues, and the discussions were sometimes tense.

  Billingsley said that the "New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty" contains many shortcomings and that the United States and Russia have divergent views on many key issues.

  The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty signed by Russia and the United States in 2010 will expire in 2021. The treaty aims to limit the number of nuclear warheads and delivery vehicles deployed by the two countries. At present, the "New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty" is the only arms control treaty between the two countries. To discuss the extension of the treaty and related security and stability issues, representatives of Russia and the United States held arms control negotiations in Vienna on June 22 and at the end of July this year. The new round of arms control negotiations was held on August 17. (Finish)