Geneva (Switzerland), July 29: The United States and Russia on Wednesday held a high-level "Strategic Stability Dialogue," to which U.S. President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin committed when they met in Geneva last month.
The dialogue, led by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, held here behind closed doors.
A U.S. government statement issued Wednesday said that the U.S. delegation discussed U.S. policy priorities and the current security environment, national perceptions of threats to strategic stability, prospects for new nuclear arms control, and the format for future "Strategic Stability Dialogue" sessions.
"The discussions in Geneva were professional and substantive. The two delegations agreed to meet again in a plenary session at the end of September, and to hold informal consultations in the interim, with the aim of determining topics for expert working groups at the second plenary," the statement said.
A statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Wednesday's meeting covered a number of "comprehensive" topics.
"In accordance with the instructions of the Presidents of the two countries, a comprehensive discussion of the sides' approaches to maintaining strategic stability, the prospects for arms control and measures to reduce risks was held," the Russian statement said.
"Various aspects of the further development of cooperation on this topic were also touched upon," it added.
In a joint statement issued following their Geneva summit on June 16, Biden and Putin reaffirmed their commitment to arms control and risk reduction.
The two leaders also agreed that diplomats and military experts from both countries would meet for what was called a "Strategic Stability Dialogue" to lay the groundwork for future arms control and risk reduction measures.
Source: Xinhua
