The United States says it is prepared to meet “immediately” with Russia to finalize a deal to extend their last major arms-control treaty, New START, by one year after Moscow backed a U.S. proposal to freeze its total number of nuclear warheads if Washington does the same.

“We appreciate the Russian Federation’s willingness to make progress on the issue of nuclear arms control. The United States is prepared to meet immediately to finalize a verifiable agreement. We expect Russia to empower its diplomats to do the same”, - State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said.

Hours earlier, Russia proposed extending the accord, which is due to expire in February, by one year, saying it was “ready, together with the U.S., to make a political commitment to “freeze” the number of nuclear warheads held by the parties for this period”.