MOSCOW - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday that Moscow could not review its suspension of the New START nuclear arms treaty with the United States until the United States changed its policy on Ukraine, Interfax reported.

President Vladimir Putin last week announced that Russia was suspending its participation in the deal, accusing the United States of trying to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia in Ukraine. He signed the suspension into law on Tuesday.

Ryabkov said the two countries continued to discuss issues around the treaty via "closed channels", Interfax said.

(Reporting by Reuters)