The purpose of the article is to analyze a set of problems related to the concept and practical implementation of arms control, which will largely determine the formation of the international security structure for future decades. Any restraints on nuclear weapons’ modernization are not 161 a global security policies’ priority anymore. Thus, urgent coordinated measures are imperative to restore this crucial process. They should take account of today's geopolitical and technological realities, as well as the changed military-strategic relations of the world order after the first cold War. When writing the article, a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach was used, which made it possible to use methods such as analogy and modeling, analysis and synthesis, comparative analysis, deduction and induction, which made it possible to characterize individual elements in the approaches of Russian and American researchers to this set of problems. The conclusions of the study are the need for priority promotion of arms control issues with Russia's active role. The theoretical significance of the work is to provide a meaningful insight into the complex issues of arms control, where the key interests of the leading world powers collide. Concrete proposals are of practical importance – a number of promising initiatives for shaping the approaches of Russian diplomacy in this area for the future.