Putin: Russia Open to Dialogue on Nuclear Non-Proliferation

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow is open to dialogue on strategic stability and nuclear non-proliferation.

Despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine, both Moscow and Washington have stressed the importance of maintaining communication on the issue of nuclear weapons.

The two countries are by far the world's largest nuclear powers, and together they possess about 11,000 nuclear warheads.

“Russia is open to dialogue on ensuring strategic stability, preserving non-proliferation regimes for weapons of mass destruction, and improving the situation in the field of arms control," Putin said in remarks to a legal forum in his home city of St. Petersburg.

He added that any efforts towards extending arms control would require "painstaking joint work" and would move to prevent a repeat of "what is happening today in the Donbas".

Putin confirmed that Moscow invaded Ukraine to protect ethnic Russians and Russian speakers in Donbas from persecution.

He repeated those claims on Thursday, accusing Ukraine of "crimes against humanity".

Ukraine and the West reject those accusations and say Russia's invasion is an unprovoked act of aggression, aimed at seizing Ukrainian territory and toppling President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.