Maas welcomed the desire of Russia and the United States to extend the START Treaty

The press conference was broadcast on Twitter.

“I welcome the fact that both the US and Russia have stated ... that they are in principle interested in extending the START III treaty, that negotiations are under way on this issue,” Maas said.

He stressed that the START Treaty remains "one of the pillars of arms control."

Earlier, the Kremlin announced contacts at the expert level with the United States on the START treaty.

On October 20, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow, proposing to extend the START treaty for a year, is ready, together with the United States, to freeze the number of nuclear warheads.

The US leader's special envoy for arms control Marshall Billingsley noted that the United States and Russia are very close to reaching an agreement on the extension of the START treaty.