FILE PHOTO: Russian ambassador to the United Nations Gennady Gatilov attends an ACANU briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, March 26, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
(Reuters) - Russia is yet to see any positive steps from the new U.S. administration on disarmament, Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva said in an interview published on Sunday.
"We are ready to maintain smooth relations of cooperation with any American administration," Gennady Gatilov said, according to RIA Novosti.
"We would be ready to do this within the framework of the Conference on Disarmament," he was quoted as saying. "So far, we do not see any positive progress in this regard in Geneva."
The conference, an international disarmament forum that meets in the Swiss city, has negotiated a number of major multilateral arms limitation and disarmament agreements, including on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated after last month's inauguration of Donald Trump as U.S. president that he sees Trump's second term as a chance for a new era in U.S.-Russian relations.
"We are, of course, closely monitoring the rhetoric and first steps of the representatives of the new U.S. administration," Gatilov said. "We expect that the Americans will move from words to action, especially since they have said a lot since January 20."
Trump and Putin have both said they are keen to meet in person. The U.S. president said he will end the war in Ukraine, which Russia started with full-scale invasion nearly three years ago, as soon as possible.
Gatilov said talks with Washington on nuclear arms control and wider security issues have not resumed.
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, which caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy, and the deployment of land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them, is due to expire on February 5, 2026.
It is the last remaining pillar of nuclear arms control between the world's two biggest nuclear powers.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Daniel Wallis and William Mallard)
