Russia criticises US President Donald Trump's US nuclear supremacy defence

Moscow : Members of Russia's upper house of parliament on Friday appeared critical of US President Donald Trump for defending its nuclear supremacy and shining doubt on a bilateral disarmament treaty signed in 2009.

Starting the presidency by calling into question an international treaty between Russia and the US was not the best way to implement non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, chairman of the the Federation Council's Defence Committee Viktor Ozerov told Russian media.

"Of course, Russia is categorically against this treaty being suspended, we will insist on its extension," Efe news quoted him as saying.

US President Donald Trump's intention to increase strategic potential did not respond to stability, mutual understanding, and world security, he said.

Calling the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty a "bad deal", Trump on Thursday said: "It would be wonderful, a dream would be that no country would have nukes, but if countries are going to have nukes, we're going to be at the top of the pack."

New START was signed in 2009 by then-President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev.

Since taking office, Trump has started to roll back some Obama-era policies and appeared to alter the US' stance on an international scale.