U.S.-Russia nuclear weapons inspections must resume before new arms talks, says U.S

FILE PHOTO: Russian and U.S. flags are pictured before talks between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman at the United States Mission in Geneva, Switzerland January 10, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration said on Thursday it cannot hold talks with Moscow on a treaty to replace the last U.S.-Russian pact limiting strategic nuclear arms until inspections of the two countries' nuclear weapons sites, which are currently paused, resume.

"The first step is to resume inspections under the existing New START Treaty and we have been trying to work with the Russians toward that end," a spokesperson at the White House National Security Council said in an email to Reuters, referring to the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty the two countries signed in 2010.