Watch, but check: the Russian Federation and the United States are moving towards a dialogue on disarmament

Russia and the United States are trying to establish a dialogue on disarmament issues. The US delegation to the Conference on Disarmament is showing interest in restoring contacts with the Russian Federation, Gennady Gatilov, Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva, told Izvestia. In particular, there are prospects for resuming dialogue on biological weapons, since earlier Donald Trump declared the Americans' readiness to lead international efforts to verify control over them. Moscow welcomes this approach, the Russian diplomat noted. However, the Russian Federation and the United States have a lot of unresolved issues in other areas — we are talking about both the strategic arsenal and, for example, intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles.

The disarmament process between Russia and the United States

The US delegation to the Conference on Disarmament (CD) has stopped anti-Russian accusations and expressed interest in resuming contacts with Moscow, Gennady Gatilov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN office and other international organizations in Geneva, told Izvestia.

— Recently, the American delegation has begun to take a more active part in the work of the Conference on Disarmament. The rhetoric towards our country has also noticeably changed, and the sweeping anti-Russian accusations in connection with the Ukrainian crisis have stopped. And in this it is impossible not to notice the difference between the position of the United States and the noted European Russophobes. The US representatives make it clear that they are interested in resuming working contacts at the conference," the diplomat told Izvestia.

Gatilov noted that currently cooperation with the United States is still very limited, except for sporadic contacts on issues of mutual interest. Immediately after the election, which was won by Donald Trump, Americans took an openly wait-and-see attitude, mainly engaged in monitoring the discussions.

Meanwhile, the Russian Federation and the United States have many unresolved issues on the issue of arms control. The most relevant of them is the fate of the START III Treaty, which expires in February 2026. Russia suggested that the United States adhere to the main provisions of the agreement for another year, so that there would be time to work out new agreements. Donald Trump reacted positively, calling the Russian proposal a good idea. However, he did not provide details of Washington's position. Such a delay may well be related to domestic political problems — a shutdown began in the United States on October 1, and the government stopped working.

The second important treaty that was terminated during the first Trump administration was the agreement on the elimination of intermediate—range and shorter-range missiles, signed in 1987. Russia tried to save the treaty, and when Washington left it, Moscow imposed a unilateral moratorium on the deployment of missiles of this type. In August, the Russian Federation abandoned the moratorium, as the United States had already begun deploying intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles. For example, Typhon complexes have appeared in the Philippines and Australia. And from 2026, American missiles will be deployed in Germany.

The current situation, as stated in a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry, requires Russia to "take compensating military-technical measures in order to fend off newly emerging threats and maintain a strategic balance." Recall that in November 2024, the Russian military for the first time used a new medium-range ballistic missile with nuclear-free hypersonic equipment "Oreshnik". In December, Vladimir Putin announced that the Oreshnik could be deployed in Belarus in the second half of 2025. Moscow also does not refuse to engage in dialogue. However, negotiations between the Russian Federation and the United States on strategic stability, which have been the basis for global security for many years, are currently not underway. Russian officials have repeatedly stressed that Moscow is ready for dialogue on security and strategic stability, but only on equal terms.

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Russian-US cooperation on biological weapons

There are prospects for establishing cooperation on issues related specifically to biological weapons. At the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Donald Trump said that the United States would lead international efforts to control biological weapons. He also called on all States to join the elimination of this type of weapons. According to the American leader, it is just as dangerous as nuclear weapons.

"The administration will lead international efforts to implement the biological weapons convention, and it must be implemented. And together with the leaders of the world, we will strive to implement an artificial intelligence—based verification system that everyone can trust," Trump said.

Russia is ready to participate in the initiative of the US president to abandon biological weapons, said Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of Russia. He also stressed that this proposal needs to be documented internationally.

The Conference on Disarmament, established in 1978, is the world's main forum for developing agreements on control over this area. It replaced the previous conference of the Committee on Disarmament. It was at this conference that the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (BTWC) was adopted in 1972. Officially, no country declares possession of biological weapons. However, it was repeatedly used during the Second World War and during the conflict in Rhodesia in Africa.

According to the UN, 189 countries have become parties to the BTWC. Nevertheless, the document lacks provisions describing clear and unbiased procedures for verifying compliance with its implementation. Russia, along with several other States, has been advocating for strengthening the convention and creating a mechanism for verifying the destruction of biological weapons for many years. Back in 2001, the United States declared that verification mechanisms would be ineffective and therefore useless. Attempts to create an international organization for the prohibition of biological weapons with a mandate to verify compliance with the convention have also failed.

Russia welcomes the fact that the United States has recognized the need to create a verification mechanism for the BTWC.

— For all its flashiness, the initiative looks crude, there is no information about how the American side is going to implement it. However, we welcome the fact that, for the first time in a long time, official Washington has actually recognized the importance and necessity of creating a verification mechanism for the BTWC. This inspires cautious optimism," Gatilov said.

According to Ivan Loshkarev, Associate Professor of the MGIMO Department of Political Theory at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, two factors influenced the change in the US position on the issue of biological weapons. Firstly, in the perception of the Republican right and President Trump's electoral base, the COVID-19 pandemic occurred due to the development of pathogenic viruses in Wuhan, which were funded by the US government. Secretary of Health Robert Kennedy Jr. shares similar views, and Trump listens to him.

"Accordingly, the new position on biological weapons looks like a logical continuation of the fight against the deep state, which financed dubious operations in this area," the expert said.

In addition, Trump's foreign policy doctrine is characterized by an emphasis on the use of more traditional weapons to intimidate opponents — bombs, missiles, and artillery shells. Unlike weapons of mass destruction, conventional weapons can also be used with a visible and predictable demonstration effect.

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NATO's activities in Ukraine

For meaningful cooperation between Russia and the United States at the Conference on disarmament, it is first necessary to create appropriate conditions for this. This refers to the unfreezing of bilateral relations based on mutual respect for interests (work is underway in this area) and the restart of strategic dialogue, taking into account new military and political realities. Only in this case will substantive contacts with the American side become possible both in the Kyrgyz Republic and in other multilateral formats, stressed the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN office and other international organizations in Geneva.

At the same time, Washington itself was actively engaged in the development of biological weapons. Back in October 2022, Russia filed an official complaint with the United Nations against the United States and Ukraine for non-compliance with their obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention. The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly stated that during a special military operation it received evidence that the United States conducted military biological activities on Ukrainian territory. The research was aimed at studying "potential agents of biological weapons" and "pathogens of economically significant infections." In response, the Pentagon stated that they supported only "peaceful laboratories."

In early May, Donald Trump signed a decree on improving the safety of biological research, which provides for the termination of funding from the state budget for certain types of activities with dangerous pathogens, including outside the national territory.

— Such a step can be seen as evidence of the current American administration's more sober approach to biosafety issues, as well as the actual recognition of the fact of extraterritorial research with dangerous pathogens. At the same time, this decree does not resolve all issues related to Washington's illegal biological activities, as it allows for the financing of such "experiments" through the Pentagon, provided that they are conducted in accordance with American standards, Gatilov drew attention.

Ivan Loshkarev emphasizes that Russia is interested in cooperation on the destruction of biological weapons, but the United States can offer verification measures only on its territory, while many American developments are conducted on the territory of other countries and may not formally be affiliated with the United States. In this regard, it is completely unclear what to do with the deployed infrastructure of biological laboratories around the world that have been created over the past decades. Washington's allies are also involved in similar activities.

— The North Atlantic Alliance is a bloc with a deep level of allied integration of states in both the military and political spheres. This implies an obvious fact: NATO members coordinate all their actions, exchange information, and assist each other. Therefore, it can be assumed with a high degree of confidence that many NATO member states are involved in illegal military biological activity outside their national territories in one way or another," Gennady Gatilov believes.

According to Vladimir Shapovalov, Deputy director of the Institute of Politics and History at Moscow State University, if the United States finally implements the convention and supports the creation of a verification mechanism, this will open up wide opportunities for biological weapons control and may resolve the issue of dangerous research in other countries. The next BTWC Review Conference in 2027 may become a platform for new solutions.

At the same time, the issue of disarmament is only one of the areas of cooperation between Moscow and Washington. The Kremlin's contacts with the US administration continue, there is no decline in them, said Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov. However, negotiations have slowed down in two important areas. For example, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, no agreement has yet been reached on a venue for Russian-American consultations to eliminate irritants in relations between the two countries. The last round took place in Istanbul in April. There has also been a serious pause in the process of dialogue between Russia and the United States on Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. According to him, the Ukrainian authorities are not seeking a peaceful settlement of the conflict, as they are "encouraged by the Europeans."