RUSSIA: Kremlin Comments On Trump Interview & Nuclear Treaty

State-run Tass reports comments from Kremlin spox Dmitri Peskov. He says that the Kremlin agrees with US President Donald Trump that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is holding up the peace process (see
RUSSIA: Trump Says Putin “Ready to Make a Deal”), and calls on the Ukrainian leader to "take responsibility for making decisions that promote peace". 

• Trump's interview with Reuters, in which he said, "I think [Putin is] ready to make a deal, I think Ukraine is less ready to make a deal," and when asked why negotiations had not led to peace, he responded, "Zelenskyy," was dismissed by Polish PM Donald Tusk. He posted on X: "It is Russia who rejected the peace plan prepared by the US, not Zelenskyy. The only Russian response were [sic] further missile attacks on Ukrainian cities. This is why the only solution is to strengthen pressure on Russia. And you all know it."
• Peskov says that another meeting between Putin, US special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will take place as soon as dates are agreed.
• Ahead of the expiration of the last remaining US-Russia nuclear arms treaty (New START) on 5 Feb, Peskov says that Russia is still awaiting a US response to Putin's proposal for its extension for another 12 months. He adds that a new 'more beneficial' treaty is needed, but it will be a 'complex and lengthy process'. Peskov says that the US desire to include China in the arms control treaty means that the nuclear potential of the entire West (including French and British nuclear arsenals) should be taken into account.