US, Russia hold 'substantive and professional' arms talks, amid tensions

The US and Russia held "substantive and professional" talks on arms control and other strategic issues, the State Department said in a statement.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman led a delegation of US officials in a meeting with Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Ryabkov, the first in a series of "integrated Strategic Stability Dialogue" talks arranged in June at President Joe Biden's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, CNN reported on Wednesday (local time).

These strategic talks come as Russia is amassing military might in the Arctic and testing its newest weapons, including an unmanned stealth torpedo powered by a nuclear reactor.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that, "we remain committed, even in times of tension, to ensuring predictability and reducing the risk of armed conflict and threat of nuclear war."

Washington and Moscow are at odds over issues ranging from ransomware attacks that have penetrated US government agencies, to Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline, its interference in Ukraine and its detention of Americans, CNN further reported.

Biden administration has stressed that it still seeks to cooperate with Moscow in areas of mutual concern, including climate change. The meeting was the first in a series of planned engagements meant to improve communication and reduce the possibility of diplomatic missteps at a time of strained relations between the two countries.

Earlier, both leaders had met in Geneva last month. That was the first meeting of Biden in a decade with the Russian president, whom he last met when Putin was prime minister and he was serving as vice president, in March of 2011.