THE South African Communist Party (SACP) welcomed at the weekend the resumption of talks on a new nuclear arms pact between Russia and the United States.

This comes after Friday’s confirmation by Moscow that Russia and the US had agreed to launch fresh arms control negotiations after the previous New Start treaty expired last Thursday.

The expiry of the treaty left no caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century and fuelled fears of a nuclear arms race.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had declared his readiness to stick to the treaty’s limits for another year if Washington followed suit.

But US President Donald Trump has argued that he wants China to be a part of a new treaty, and his administration ramped up the pressure by accusing Beijing of carrying out nuclear explosive tests.

Beijing rejected the allegations and has refused to join a non-proliferation deal.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that both parties “realise the need to start talks on the issue as soon as possible.”

Asked to comment on a report that Russian and US negotiators discussed a possible informal deal to observe the pact’s limits for at least six months, Mr Peskov said: “It’s hard to imagine any informal extension in this sphere.”

In a statement, the SACP said: “While we welcome this negotiation and anticipate a new agreement on this matter, we do not function on naivety that pacts and treaties are in themselves the irreversible guarantee of peace with no internal risks and internal contradictions.

“Within an imperialist global framework, the existence of Russia as a nuclear power has historically stood as a deterrent to what would have been unbridled US power.”

“It is the ultimate defeat of imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism that will ultimately create conditions for the end of utilisation of nuclear science for military purposes,” it said.