French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian spoke about the prospects in arms control amid the forthcoming change of the US administration, Le Journal du Dimanche reported.

According to him, Russia and the United States must maintain their leverage and tools to arms control in order to avoid strategic imbalances. The French FM noted that this will first of all refer to European countries.

"The initiatives must be taken together with the Europeans so that these issues are not resolved without our participation," Le Drian said.

He added that the world "has not seen such a thing since the [19]60s."

On January 15, Russia announced its withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty, signed in Helsinki in March 1992 by representatives of 23 OSCE participating States. On November 22, the US completed the process of withdrawing from this treaty, Gazeta.ru wrote.