The United States, Russia, China and more than a score of other countries are sitting out new talks at the United Nations toward a treaty that would ban nuclear weapons.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley and colleagues from Britain, France and about 20 other nations gathered Monday outside the General Assembly to show opposition to the talks starting inside. Haley says the U.S. wants a nuclear-weapons-free world but has to be “realistic” about how to get there while protecting its people.

She says the U.S. has already reduced its nuclear weapons by 85 percent under the decades-old Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

More than 100 countries backed a General Assembly resolution that set up the talks. Backers of the proposed treaty say prohibiting nuclear weapons would be a powerful step toward eliminating them.

 
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