WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Russia categorically rejects US claims on alleged violations of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), Russian Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov said adding that these allegations were an attack on the arms control mechanism.

US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley said on Wednesday the United States believes Russia may not be adhering to the nuclear testing moratorium outlined in the 1996 accord.

"We categorically reject these allegations," Antonov said, noting that the US claims resembled a "well-planned concerted attack not only on Russia but on the arms control regime and the whole strategic stability architecture."

The diplomat said he had been surprised that the issue had not been brought up during bilateral consultations but had been communicated through media.

Meanwhile, the Russian embassy in the United States said that the US claims against Russia concerning the bilateral New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (NEW Start) are misleading and result from the suspension of the strategic stability dialogue between Moscow and Washington.

"We have taken note of recent increasing attacks by conservative political analysts against the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty #NewSTART and Russia’s arms control record. We deem it necessary to point out some of their blatant misrepresentations of facts that mislead the audience and create a distorted picture of the actual state of affairs … The above misinterpretations often result from the protracted break in the bilateral dialogue on strategic stability," the embassy wrote on Facebook late on Wednesday.

The diplomats also denied the US allegations that NEW Start allowed Russia to boost its countable nuclear weapons and rejected claims that the treaty’s verification system was ineffective.

The statement also argued that the treaty had determined the mechanism for addressing concerns about new strategic weapons, including the "exotic" ones, which the US claimed were not covered by it.