Putin suggests Russia and US could make a deal on nuclear arms control

By Dmitry Antonov and Mark Trevelyan

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the United States was making "sincere efforts" to halt the war in Ukraine and suggested Moscow and Washington could agree a nuclear arms deal as part of a wider effort to strengthen peace.

Putin was speaking to his most senior ministers and security officials on the eve of a summit in Alaska with U.S. President Donald Trump, who is pressing for an end to the war.

He said in televised comments that the U.S. was "making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict".

This was happening, Putin said, "in order to create long-term conditions for peace between our countries, and in Europe, and in the world as a whole - if, by the next stages, we reach agreements in the area of control over strategic offensive weapons."

His comments signalled that Russia will raise the issue of nuclear arms control as part of a wide-ranging discussion on security when he sits down with Trump in Anchorage for the first Russia-U.S. summit since June 2021.

Russia and the United States have by far the biggest nuclear arsenals in the world. The last remaining treaty between them that limits the numbers of these weapons is due to expire on February 5 next year.

The New START treaty covers strategic nuclear weapons - those designed by each side to hit the enemy's centres of military, economic and political power - and caps the number of deployed warheads at 1,550 on each side. Both are likely to breach that limit if the treaty is not extended or replaced.

In a symptom of nuclear tensions between the two sides, Trump this month said he had ordered two U.S. nuclear submarines to move closer to Russia because of what he called threatening comments by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev about the possibility of war between the two countries. The Kremlin played down the move but said "everyone should be very, very careful" with nuclear rhetoric.

Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov said earlier that Putin and Trump will also discuss the "huge untapped potential" for Russia-U.S. economic ties, as well as the prospects for ending the war in Ukraine.

Ushakov told reporters that the summit would start at 1930 GMT, which would be 1130 a.m. local time in Anchorage, with the two leaders meeting one-on-one, accompanied only by translators.

He said delegations from the two countries would then meet and have a working lunch, and the presidents would give a joint news conference.

Ushakov said it was "obvious to everyone" that Ukraine would be the focus of the meeting, but broader security and international issues would also be discussed.

He added: "An exchange of views is expected on further developing bilateral cooperation, including in the trade and economic sphere. I would like to note that this cooperation has huge, and unfortunately hitherto untapped, potential."

Ushakov, who is Putin's foreign policy adviser, said the other members of the Russian delegation would be Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation.

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov and Moscow bureau, writing by Mark Trevelyan, editing by Philippa Fletcher)