The Russian government confirmed that it will continue to abide by the New START nuclear arms control treaty, which expired last week, as long as the United States also complies.
On 11 Feb 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would uphold the provisions of the New START nuclear arms control treaty as long as the U.S. continues to comply, even though the treaty expired on 5 Feb and no new agreement has been reached.
The New START treaty was the last remaining nuclear arms control agreement between Russia and the U.S. Its expiration means that, for the first time in over half a century, the nuclear arsenals of these two major powers will be uncontrolled by any treaty, raising concerns about a new arms buildup competition.
Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was willing to adhere to the treaty limits for another year if Washington did the same. However, U.S. President Donald Trump argued that China should be included in any new agreement, a proposal rejected by Beijing.
The New START treaty, signed in 2010, limited Russia and the U.S. to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each. It also capped the number of deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and nuclear-capable bombers at 700 each.
Lavrov told the Russian lower house on Wednesday that although the U.S. has yet to respond to Putin's proposal, Russia will respect the New START treaty's terms as long as it sees the U.S. doing the same.
"We will act responsibly and in balance, based on analysis of U.S. military policy," Lavrov said, adding, "We have reasons to believe the U.S. is not rushing to abandon these limits and will continue to comply in the near future."
"We will closely monitor how the situation develops," Lavrov said. "If it is confirmed that our American counterparts intend to maintain cooperation in some form, we will actively work toward a new agreement and consider issues beyond existing strategic stability accords."
Lavrov's remarks came after Axios news site reported that during a meeting in Abu Dhabi last week, Russian and U.S. negotiating teams discussed the possibility of an informal agreement for both sides to continue observing the New START treaty for at least another six months.
Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the Russian and U.S. negotiation teams discussed future nuclear arms control in Abu Dhabi on the sidelines of a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, Russia, and the U.S., aimed at finding solutions for the war in Ukraine.
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Source:cna