Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that he had proposed that Russia and the United States make a statement on the impermissibility of a nuclear war.

The proposal was made in his recent phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on February 4, said Lavrov when speaking to participants of the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva by video.

Russia will not deploy such ground-based missiles in regions where similar U.S.-produced missiles are not deployed. We call on NATO states to take similar reciprocal steps, added Lavrov. 

The United States must bring its nuclear weapons home and dismantle infrastructure for their deployment abroad, he said.

The prolongation of the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the New START Treaty) guaranteed predictability in the Russia-U.S. relations, he added.

The New START is the last major agreement on nuclear weapons between the nuclear superpowers following the U.S. scrapping of two other treaties, in 2002 and 2019.

Russia's top diplomat noted that this has laid a basis for further negotiations on arms control, and all the factors that impact strategic stability should be taken into account.

Lavrov also commented on the ongoing spat between Tehran and Washington about the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Iran nuclear deal, calling on related parties, especially the new U.S. administration, to intensify efforts in these areas that are so important for the international community.

"Following its pullout from the JCPOA under the Iran nuclear program in 2018 and the dismantling of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 2019, the United States made a decision in 2020 to quit the Treaty on Open Skies, which undermines international security," he noted.