Moscow’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov described Western governments as “adversaries, not friends” and said a “complete malfunction of the American system” meant longstanding weapons agreements could be binned, leaving nuclear powers without constraint in the event of a future conflict.
He said: “We could lose several elements on arms control infrastructure. The building is shaky.”
Mr Rybakov warned another round of sanctions intruded by Donald Trump in the summer were “dangerous” and getting in the way of negotiations over renewing the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty “New START” which saw both sides agree to reduce their deployed nuclear arms by half but is set to expire in 2021.
He said: “If there is no progress then risk of a real backfire grows.
“I don’t think we can easily say the future of New START is bright.
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“We truly do not see any desire on the US side at this point to engage in discussions on an extension ion the treaty which we have proposed.”
Mr Ryabkov was speaking as negotiators from the two countries met in Geneva to discuss a Cold War era treaty that was supposed to keep expansion of long-range nuclear-capable missiles in check.
Moscow and Washington have repeatedly accused each other of breaching the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a 1987 pact which bans firing land-based missiles with a range of up to 5,500km.
The US ambassador to NATO warned Moscow against developing a new cruise missile that could be armed with nuclear warheads, arguing that it was in breach of the INF and could be used against members of the Western military alliance.
Kay Bailey Hutchison said: “Counter measures by the United States would be to take out the missiles that are in development by Russia in violation of the treaty. They are on notice.”
The US government took a more aggressive line against Russia this year, when Mr Trump unveiled a new nuclear strategy that revolved around countering Russia and called for the development of small tactical nuclear weapons that were cheaper to maintain and could be used in more realistic scenarios.
Washington has also accelerated long-running US military plans to develop new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and nuclear-capable cruise missiles and has just confirmed hypersonic weapons testing is well underway.
The sabre-rattling comes against a grim backdrop of mistrust with over the crisis in Ukraine, the conflict in Syria, allegations of Russian meddling in US elections and the Kremlin’s role in the attempt to assassinate former intelligence agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.
Mr Ryabkov said: “We have a situation that is much, much worse than even during the most heated moments, or rather the coldest moments, of the past.”
He said Moscow would not be swayed by Dutch, British and US claims its agents had also sought to hack into the computer network of The Hague-based Office for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons as it investigated the attack on Mr Skripal.
He said: ”If some believe that this makes an impression on Russia and somehow causes Russia to hesitate, then that is a very wrong conclusion.
“On the contrary, a consolidated effort to pressurise Russia only diminishes chances of any real engagement towards resolution.
He said Moscow was not concerned about the growingly negative rhetoric coming from the West because it viewed Western governments as “adversaries, not friends”.
He said: “We do not believe that the broader West are friends with us. Rather, we see the West as an adversary that acts to undermine Russia’s positions and Russia’s perspective for normal development.
“So why should we care so much about our standing among adversaries?”