Russia sees an urgent need for security talks with the United States but they must be “comprehensive” and include the issue of Ukraine, the Kremlin said today.

“It is impossible to dismiss any part of the overall set of accumulated problems, and we will not do that,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked if Moscow was ready to talk with Washington about nuclear risks.

“So we are open to dialogue, but an expanded comprehensive dialogue that covers all dimensions, including the current dimension related to the conflict around Ukraine and the direct involvement of the US in this conflict,” Peskov told reporters. .

The United States rejects Russia’s claim that by arming Ukraine it has become a direct protagonist in a war aimed at inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Moscow. The US says any negotiations on the war are a matter for Ukraine.

Russia’s stance, as summarized by Peskov, is not new. But he told reporters that the list of issues Russia and the United States need to discuss is growing.

“In general, this dialogue is very necessary,” Peskov said. “It is needed because the problems are piling up and there are many problems related to the global security architecture.”

In Washington’s view, it is Putin who, in the third year of the war in Ukraine, is adding issues to the list of security concerns.

This week he visited nuclear-armed North Korea, where he signed a mutual defense cooperation agreement with its leader Kim Jong Un and said he may supply Russian weapons to North Korea in response to Western equipment being provided to Ukraine.

Putin reiterated yesterday that he is considering revising Russia’s nuclear weapons doctrine. The latest arms control agreement that limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads that Russia and the United States can develop expires in 2026.