MOSCOW, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- The United States is deliberately dragging its feet on extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said here on Friday.
"We are very concerned about the prospects for the New START Treaty, which expires in February 2021, the last instrument in control over the strategic offensive arms of our two countries," TASS news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying at the 4th Moscow Nonproliferation Conference.
Ryabkov said Moscow had repeatedly expressed its readiness to tackle issues related to extending the New START agreement, which he said is "the only reasonable step that would prevent a final degradation of the situation in the field of strategic stability."
But Washington has ignored Moscow's concerns, he said.
Ryabkov said that the inclusion of new Russian weapons in the New START treaty, which the United States has suggested, is impossible without revising the text of the agreement.
He was also skeptical about the U.S. intention to attract other countries to join the agreement.
So far, the United States has not announced if it plans to extend the treaty signed in 2010.
