Reuters: US already held talks on nuclear weapons with Russia and is now preparing meeting with China

Reuters, citing a senior US State Department official, has reported that the US delegation has already held talks with Russian representatives and is preparing to meet Chinese diplomats on nuclear arms control.

According to a Reuters source, the US met the Russian delegation in Geneva on Monday and will meet the Chinese delegation on Tuesday for talks on a potential multilateral nuclear arms control treaty.

The US has called for a new, broader arms control treaty that would include China as well as Russia after the previous agreement limiting nuclear arsenals expired.

China's Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs Shen Jian earlier this month said that at this stage his country will not take part in new talks on nuclear arms control with Moscow and Washington. It is currently unclear whether talks on Tuesday will involve a formal negotiating process.

Earlier in February, the US said that China conducted a secret nuclear test in June 2020 and Shen denied this.

A senior US official said that the US has held productive bilateral talks with Britain and France, which are also members of the UN Security Council.

"Taking discussions to the five permanent members of the Security Council was the next logical step," they said, adding that they were optimistic.

On 5 February, US President Donald Trump called for the creation of a new nuclear weapons treaty, as the current New START agreement (also known as START-3) has expired.

On 4 February, Russia's Foreign Ministry said that after the suspension of START-3, Russia no longer considers itself bound by limits on its nuclear arsenal.

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Head of Russia's Security Council and former president, published a "scary story" about nuclear war.