US and Russia hold ‘substantive’ strategic stability talks as Moscow raps Biden for comments

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 atPeskov said the Kremlin regrets the US is more of an opponent than a partner despite Putin “repeatedly” demonstrating the “political will” to normalize relations:At Wednesday’s talks, “the US delegation discussed US policy priorities and the current security environment, national perceptions of threats to strategic stability, prospects for new nuclear arms control, and the format for future Strategic Stability Dialogue sessions,” Price said. Biden renewed the New START nuclear arms control agreement with Russia during his first month in office, but both countries have said that more work needs to be done to reduce conflict and address new areas of competition. The space race and cyber offensive capabilities are expected to be on the agenda, sources familiar with the plans have said. Price said the two delegations agreed to meet again at the end of September and to hold informal consultations in the interim to determine topics for expert working groups going forward. Price also said that senior officials from the State Department and Pentagon will now travel to Brussels, Belgium, to brief allies at NATO headquarters. After the meetings Wednesday, Ryabkov told TASS news agency that the US showed up in Geneva ready for constructive dialogue.”They are ready,” TASS quoted the deputy foreign minister as saying. “This is a good thing. They [the US] sent an impressive delegation representing all departments.”Ryabkov said the US “worked through its agenda 100%” and that there were no surprises for the Russian delegation.The more formal Russian readout of the meeting was brief. “In accordance with the instructions of the Presidents of the two countries, a comprehensive discussion was held on the approaches of the parties to maintaining strategic stability, the prospects for arms control and measures to reduce risks,” the statement said. “Various aspects of the further development of cooperation on this topic were touched upon.”CNN’s Jason Hoffman and Zahra Ullah contributed to this report.