Moscow: The administration of US President Donald Trump has dropped its demand for China to join ongoing US-Russian nuclear talks with a view to securing a political agreement with Moscow first, Axios reported, citing US arms control envoy Marshall Billingslea.According to the news outlet, the US intends to strike a political accord with Russia and then press China into joining talks and a treaty.”There has been a shift,” Billingslea confirmed. Axios suggests that the change in tactics was driven partly by Trump’s multiple calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the former’s wish to hold a nuclear summit before the November election. Billingslea, who led the US delegation at August 17-18 arms control talks in Vienna, said that he had informed Russia about Washington’s conditions for a deal, based on a “clear mandate” from Trump. “The ball is in Russia’s court,” the envoy added. The US, at the same time, is still “ambivalent” about extension of the 2011 New START treaty, but is ready for that if Russia agrees to its ambitious framework for a future treaty, Billingslea said. As for “a future world where the Chinese Communist Party is arms racing,” a bipolar approach is “no longer applicable,” he made clear. Following the Vienna talks, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that the priorities of the two countries are “very different” at the moment. According to the diplomat, US did not rule out extending New START, but declined to record this intention. As for Russia, it is not ready to extend the treaty at any cost, Ryabkov noted.