SAINT PETERSBURG (AFP) - President Vladimir Putin on Thursday (June 6) said Russia was prepared to drop a nuclear arms control agreement with the US, known as New START, if there was a lack of interest in renewing it.

"If no one feels like extending the agreement - New START - well, we won't do it then," Mr Putin said at an economic forum in Saint Petersburg, referring to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which caps the countries' number of nuclear warheads.