Moscow will give US advance notice about missile tests, Russian deputy foreign minister clarifies

Moscow will continue to give the United States advance notice about its missile tests despite suspending participation in the nuclear arms treaty called New START, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, clarified Thursday according to Russian state media TASS.

What happened: On Wednesday, Ryabkov had said that all types of notifications between Russia and the United States under the nuclear NEW START treaty were suspended. To this, the State Department had said Wednesday that the US had not received notice from Russia “indicating a change” in nuclear notifications.

However, Ryabkov clarified and told reporters that Moscow will in fact voluntarily continue to notify the US of missile launch.

“From a political and legal point of view, the situation is such that all types of information exchanges, as well as other elements of verification activities in accordance with START, have been suspended by us. But, as it was announced back in February, on a voluntary basis, the Russian Federation will adhere to the central quantitative restrictions on START, established in the START treaty, and will also continue to implement the 1988 agreement on the exchange of notifications on missile launches,” Ryabkov said as quoted by TASS.

He also stressed that Moscow has stated its position to Washington both orally and in writing. “There is no ambiguity here,” he said.

The US has been “concerned Russia’s reckless behavior as it relates to the New START Treaty,” US State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Wednesday.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed to this reporting.