Briefly

SAUDI ARABIA

Riyadh agrees to partner with SCO

Saudi Arabia has agreed to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a "dialogue partner", state media reported on Wednesday. The cabinet approved the decision at a meeting on Tuesday chaired by King Salman, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. Other countries with either observer or dialogue partner status include Egypt and Qatar. The organization was established in Shanghai in 2001 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017.

RUSSIA

Moscow sticks to limits on nuclear warheads

Moscow said on Wednesday that Washington's decision to stop sharing some data on its nuclear forces under the New START arms control treaty will not prompt it to review its own decision to suspend its participation in the pact. The United States announced on Tuesday it would stop exchanging some information on its nuclear forces after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Moscow to suspend its own participation in February. Russia said it would voluntarily stick to agreed limits on the number of nuclear warheads it can deploy regardless of the US' decision.

Agencies via Xinhua