In a statement Monday, the State Department spokesperson said that “the United States and the Russian Federation were set to convene a meeting of the New START Treaty’s Bilateral Consultative Commission (BCC) in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss New START Treaty implementation on Tuesday, November 29.”“The Russian side informed the United States that Russia has unilaterally postponed the meeting and stated that it would propose new dates,” the spokesperson said.The State Department spokesperson said the US “is ready to reschedule at the earliest possible date as resuming inspections is a priority for sustaining the treaty as an instrument of stability.”The New START Treaty puts limits on the number of deployed intercontinental-range nuclear weapons that both the US and Russia can have.Under the treaty, Washington and Moscow conduct inspections of each other’s weapons sites, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, inspections have been halted since 2020.Biden administration officials had viewed the resumption of talks as a positive development, particularly as they were set to occur in the wake of Moscow’s nuclear saber-rattling toward Ukraine.The top US diplomat in Moscow, Elizabeth Rood, told RIA Novosti that the US still aims to resume a strategic dialogue with Russia and “will continue to hold discussions within the framework of the Bilateral Consultative Commission.”“President Biden has been very clear about his commitment to negotiating to maintain the arms control structure beyond the expiration of START in 2026."