Russia Wants To Maintain Nuclear Treaty Despite Disrupts With The United States

US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the New START Treaty in Prague, Czech Republic. (Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru)

JAKARTA - Russia has said it wants to maintain its remaining nuclear agreement with the United States, despite what it calls Washington's destructive approach to arms control.

The United States on Tuesday accused Russia of violating the New START Treaty, by refusing to allow inspections on its territory.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters it was important to keep at least some "incidents" to continue dialogue with Washington, "no matter how sad the situation is at this time".

"We consider the continuation of this agreement very important," he said, describing it as the only one that remains "at least hypothetically feasible".

"If not, we see that the United States has actually destroyed a legal framework" for gun control," he continued.

The New START Treaty comes into effect in 2011 and is extended in 2021 for another five years. It limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy, as well as the deployment of ground-based missiles, submarines and bombers that can launch them.

Together, Russia and the United States account for about 90 percent of the world's nuclear warheads. The future of the New START Treaty is becoming increasingly important, at a time of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has pushed the two countries closer to direct confrontation than ever in the last 60 years.

Moscow in August suspended cooperation with inspections under the agreement, blaming travel restrictions imposed by Washington and its allies after the invasion, but said it was still committed to complying with treaty terms.

A State Department spokesman said on Tuesday Russia had a "clear route" to returning to compliance by allowing inspection activities, and that Washington remains ready to work with Russia to fully implement the agreement.

"New START Treaty remains in the interests of the United States' national security," the spokesman said.

Talks to continue the inspection are scheduled to take place in November in Egypt, but Russia has postponed it and no party has set a new date yet. Moscow accuses Washington of refusing to discuss a broader "strategic stability" agenda.