The head of the American delegation at the negotiations on arms control Marshall Billingsley published in Twitter a photo op meetings with Russian colleagues in Vienna. The plot of its image does not coincide with the frame laid out on the page in Facebook the Russian Ambassador to Austria Dmitry lubinsky. “B” figured out how it happened.Today in Vienna negotiations on arms control with the participation of high-ranking delegations from Russia and the United States. In the spotlight — the Treaty on strategic offensive arms, which expires soon. Moscow offers to extend it for another five years, but Washington is procrastinating. The US really want to connect to the bilateral agreements third country — China. That the Chinese are not coming to Vienna, it was officially known in advance. This, however, did not prevent the special representative of the President of the United States arms control Marshall Billingsley post to Twitter a photo of the meeting rooms at the Palais Niederoesterreich, which in addition to the visible American and Russian and Chinese flags. “The negotiations in Vienna is about to begin. China did not appear. Beijing still hiding behind the great wall of secrecy in regard to his accelerated nuclear build-up, and many other things. We will continue to work with Russia, in spite of this,” he wrote.Meanwhile, a little later, the Ambassador of Russia in Austria Dmitry lubinsky published in Facebook the immediate start of negotiations, and it differs significantly from the frame, laid the head of the American delegation. The premise is the same, the tables are set the same, but in this photo no flags no, the delegates are the only signs with their names, water bottle and glasses.The U.S., however, wanted to place the flags of all three countries to emphasize that these negotiations, from the point of view of the American side, should be tripartite. Washington hoped to create additional pressure on Beijing.According to the latest estimates of the Stockholm Institute for peace studies, Russia 6,375 thousand warheads, the United States — 5.8 million, and China — 320. But in the United States believe that China is hiding the real numbers, is rapidly increasing and upgrading your Arsenal.Before the arrival of the Russian delegation, the Chinese flag was removed.The post Marshall Billingsley responded the Director of the Department of arms control Ministry of foreign Affairs of China Fu Tsun. “What a strange scene! To put the Chinese flag on the table of negotiations without the consent of China! 1 he wrote on Twitter. Good luck with the extension of the Treaty on strategic offensive weapons! How low can one go?” Elena Chernenko
