The leaders of Russia and the Untied States recognized at their meeting in Helsinki the need to restore strategic stability maintenance instruments, Russian ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said Wednesday.
"Issues of strategic stability were discussed at this meeting. It seemed to me that there was a mutual understanding of the need to restore such mechanisms," RIA Novosti news agency quoted Antonov as saying.
Commenting on the Monday's meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, he recalled that the parties discussed the necessity to decide on the future of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which expires in 2021.
They also discussed the prospects of maintaining the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), Antonov said.
He said two great countries like Russia and the United States, simply do not have the right to quarrel, but they must cooperate to strengthen peace and security in accordance with the UN charter.
At this unprecedented one-on-one meeting, Putin and Trump discussed a wide range of topics including Russia-U.S. relations, national security and top international issues, he said.
Antonov said the meeting between the two leaders was very informative and both Putin and Trump appeared open and frank expressing their concerns and trying to find common ground.
"The Russian-American summit is a landmark event, this is the main event of the current political season," he said.
Russia is open to dialogue with the United States, but it will depend on how much the United States will be ready to implement those oral agreements that were reached during the meeting, Antonov said.
He said he suspected that Trump would find it difficult to implement the agreements that emerged after the Helsinki summit, due to the tough resistance of the U.S. political establishment and media.
However, Russia will do everything in its power to help U.S. partners find "at least some small-scale joint projects at the first stage in order to break free from the deadlock caused by contradictions and difficulties that we have," Antonov said.
