Updated

Russia's top military officer has voiced skepticism about deeper nuclear arms cuts, saying they should require parallel cuts in non-nuclear precision weapons.

Thursday's statement by chief of Russia's military General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, appeared to signal the Kremlin's reluctance to negotiate a new nuclear arms deal with Washington.

President Barack Obama has pledged to work with Moscow to seek further reductions in nuclear arsenals. But Russia, which has increasingly relied on its nuclear deterrent due to a relative weakness of its conventional forces, appears concerned about the U.S. edge in precision weapons.

While he did not mention the United States, Gerasimov appeared to refer to U.S. plans to fit conventional warheads to some of its long-range missiles. He said that such weapons should be part of arms control talks.