Biden ready for talks with Russia, China and North Korea on nuclear threat

US President Joe Biden has said that the United States is ready to talk to Russia, China and North Korea to address nuclear security issues.

The Nobel Peace Prize in 2024 was awarded to the Japanese nuclear bombing survivors' organisation Nihon Hidankyo for its efforts to create a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating that nuclear weapons can never be used again.

Biden noted on the Nobel Peace Prize winners' congratulatory statement that it is necessary to continue to move forward to the day when the world can be completely and permanently free of nuclear weapons.

Therefore, he said, the United States is ready to negotiate with Russia, China and North Korea "without preconditions" to diminish the nuclear threat.

"There is no benefit to our nations or the world to forestall progress on reducing nuclear arsenals. Reducing the nuclear threat is important not despite the dangers of today’s world but precisely because of them.

These nuclear risks erode the norms and agreements we have worked collectively to put in place and run counter to the vital work of today’s Nobel Laureates," he said. 

Amid discussions in the West about allowing Kyiv to hit targets in Russia with long-range Western weapons, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said in September that he would expand the conditions under which his country would be ready to use nuclear weapons.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte urged that Russia's nuclear threats should not be heeded and stressed that the allies currently see no direct risk of using nuclear weapons.

NATO will begin its annual nuclear exercise Steadfast Noon on Monday, 14 October.