President Joe Biden (L) and President Vladimir Putin.
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WASHINGTON –The Biden administration has actually extended an important nuclear weapons treaty with Russia for 5 more years, America’s leading diplomat revealed Wednesday.
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, was set to end today. The contract is the sole arms manage treaty in location in between Washington and Moscow following previous President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, or INF, treaty.
“President Biden pledged to keep the American people safe from nuclear threats by restoring U.S. leadership on arms control and nonproliferation,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated Wednesday. “Today, the United States took the first step toward making good on that pledge when it extended the New START Treaty with the Russian Federation for five years.”
Similar to the INF treaty, New START restricts the nuclear toolboxes of Washington and Moscow. The United States and Russia own the lion’s share of the world’s nukes.
Read more: Former ambassador alerts expiration of crucial nuclear treaty with Russia would make the U.S. ‘worse off’
“The New START Treaty’s verification regime enables us to monitor Russian compliance with the treaty and provides us with greater insight into Russia’s nuclear posture, including through data exchanges and onsite inspections that allow U.S. inspectors to have eyes on Russian nuclear forces and facilities,” Blinken stated.
The secretary of State included that the U.S. had actually examined that Russia remained in compliance with its New START Treaty responsibilities given that the beginning of the contract in 2011.
“The United States will use the time provided by a five-year extension of the New START Treaty to pursue with the Russian Federation, in consultation with Congress and U.S. allies and partners, arms control that addresses all of its nuclear weapons,” Blinken stated in a declaration.
Blinken likewise included that the Biden administration will work to pursue arms control “to reduce the dangers from China’s modern and growing nuclear arsenal.”
State department spokesperson Ned Price informed press reporters Wednesday that the Biden administration will “remain clear-eyed about the challenges that Russia poses.”
“Even as we work with Russia to advance U.S. interests so too will we hold Russia to account for its reckless and its adversarial behavior,” Price stated.
Price likewise stated that the five-year extension offers the U.S. “time and space to talk about the broader strategic stability elements” that originates from the arms control contract.
