Niinistö wishes further progress in U.S.-Russia arms control deal

President Sauli Niinistö on Monday said he wished further progress in coming to an agreement by the United States and Russia on arms control, said the Finnish President’s Office.

Niinistö expressed his desire at separate meetings held with Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Ryabkov and US Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control Marshall Billingslea held at the president’s official residence Mäntyniemi.

Earlier, on the same day Ryabkov and Billingslea had continued the US-Russian dialogue on strategic stability and nuclear arms control in Helsinki.

“Two interesting discussions. In the current world situation, all dialogue is important, and I welcome its continuation between the United States and Russia. I wish further progress in agreeing on arms control,” said Niinistö.

Earlier, in August, the second round of nuclear disarmament talks between the United States and Russia ended without any decisive progress.

The first round of new disarmament talks between the United States and Russia ended in June with no tangible results with the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) scheduled to expire in months, reported Xinhua.

In 2010, Washington and Moscow signed the New START, which stipulates limits to the numbers of deployed nuclear warheads and strategic delivery systems by both. The New START, the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty in force between the two nuclear superpowers, will expire on 5 February 2021.