MOSCOW, February 4 (RIA Novosti) – A senior US official will visit Moscow at the end of the week to discuss arms control and international security issues, the State Department said in a statement Monday.
Acting US Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller will arrive in Moscow in the wake of a report last week that Russia has been testing a new cruise missile that some White House officials believe violates a 1987 nuclear treaty banning medium-range missiles.
The US notified NATO allies of the issue last month, according to the New York Times.
State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said Thursday that Gottemoeller has been in discussions with Moscow about the missile tests, but that the US does not yet consider the treaty to be in jeopardy.
The two countries are also cooperating on the ongoing operation to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said in an interview with RIA Novosti on Tuesday that Syria is working to complete the removal of the weapons by next month.
Gottemoeller, the chief US negotiator for the landmark New START nuclear treaty signed by the two countries in 2010, is visiting Switzerland and Austria before arriving in Moscow.
