START nuclear treaty 'was flawed': senior US official

GENEVA, Feb 06 (AFP): A senior US official on Friday criticised the last nuclear treaty between Russia and the United States for failing to including Beijing, speaking at the United Nations a day after the New START deal expired.

"In a nutshell, New START was flawed," Thomas G. DiNanno, US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, told reporters in Geneva, pointing out that it had not covered all nuclear weapons, "and it didn't include China".

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday accused Ukraine of being behind an assassination attempt on a top Russian general in Moscow, something he said was designed to sabotage peace talks.

A senior Russian military officer, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, was rushed to hospital earlier on Friday after being shot in Moscow, investigators said, in the latest of a series of attacks on top military officials.

There has been no comment from Ukraine on the shooting. Lavrov did not cite evidence to support his accusation that Kyiv was behind the attack.

Meanwhile, Russia and the United States agree that it is necessary to renew nuclear talks, the Kremlin said Friday, after the last treaty limiting Moscow's and Washington's arsenals expired.

The world's top two nuclear nations said Thursday they were resuming high- level military contacts, an agreement reached at two-day talks in Abu Dhabi aimed at resolving the Ukraine war.