US President Joe Biden talked with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over a number of issues, including the New Start Treaty, in their first phone call.

Iran PressAmerica: The White House in a statement said that Biden and Putin had discussed the New Start treaty, the Navalny case, and Afghanistan during the phone call on Tuesday.

Some sources said: "Biden has sought to maintain diplomacy with Russia and has expressed his eagerness to extend the new START treaty.

"Biden, unlike his former counterparts, did not talk about re-establishing relations in this telephone conversation and only said that he wanted to put aside his differences with Russia," they said.

Biden government officials said Moscow requested the phone call last week. Biden agreed at the time but planned to prepare his cabinet first and then discuss it with European officials.

The new US administration announced last week that it intends to extend the US-Russia Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty for another five years.

The treaty expires in February 2021.

Under the New Start agreement between Russia and the United States in 2010, the two countries agreed to limit the number of their strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550 with a maximum of 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic bombers.

The New Start Agreement replaces the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as the Start, which was concluded in 1991 and expired in December 2009. 219