White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday that the United States does not believe it needs to increase the size of its nuclear arsenal to deter the combined forces of Russia, China and other rivals.

He also said that the United States would abide by the nuclear weapons limits set out in the New NPT until it expires in 2026 if Russia does the same.

Sullivan said this in his speech, in which he tried to convince Moscow and Beijing to participate in arms control negotiations.

“The United States does not need to increase its nuclear forces to exceed the total of our competitors in order to successfully deter them,” Sullivan told the Arms Control Association, the oldest US arms control advocacy group.

In February, Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was suspending its participation in the New NPT, the latest agreement to limit the strategic nuclear weapons of the US and Russia.

“While declaring that it is suspending the new NPT, Russia has also publicly committed to the treaty’s core limits, indicating a potential desire to continue limiting strategic nuclear forces until 2026. We agree,” he said. Sullivan.

“It is not in the interests of any of our countries to participate in an open-ended competition in the field of strategic forces, and we are ready to respect the basic limitations as long as Russia does this,” he added.

“Instead of waiting until all of our bilateral differences are resolved, the United States is ready to work now with Russia to manage nuclear risks and develop a post-2026 arms control framework,” Sullivan said. (News.ro)