Russia and the United States agreed to extend the NEW START treaty

This is a special program from the ’ANNA News’. I am Constantine Reztsov. The Kremlin announced that Russia and the USA have agreed to extend the ’NEW START’ treaty. And it happened on the terms of Moscow.

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, stated that Russia welcomes the decision of the Joe Biden’s team to extend the treaty. According to him — the treaty will be extended for 5 years, without any additions or preconditions. Which is exactly what Moscow wanted. Sergei Ryabkov added that the previous Russian proposal to freeze the nuclear arsenals of both countries for a year is no longer relevant.

The presidents of Russia and the USA, Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, discussed this issue via a telephone, and agreed to extend the treaty, which is currently the only Russian-American arms limitation agreement.

“The Presidents expressed their satisfaction with today’s exchange of the diplomatic notes on an agreement on the extension of the ’NEW START’ treaty. In the coming days, the parties will complete all the necessary procedures to ensure the further functioning of this important international legal mechanism for the mutual limitation of the nuclear missile arsenals” — the report stated.

Vladimir Putin submitted for a discussion to the Russian parliament a bill on the ratification of the agreement to extend the ’NEW START’. It was the first hearing on Wednesday’s agenda. The Russian Parliament approved the document on the extension of the ’NEW START’.

The White House also officially confirmed the agreement, reached by Putin and Biden in a personal conversation.

«They discussed the willingness of both countries to extend the ’NEW START’ for 5 years. They agreed to get their teams to work urgently, and finish the extension by 5th of February».

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, stated on Monday that the Russian officials have started their work with their US counterparts in order to extend the treaty. The secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, discussed this topic via a telephone with the US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan. The position of both sides was welcomed by the NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg.

“We shouldn’t be in a situation where we don’t have any warhead restrictions” — Jens Stoltenberg explained — “I see the extension of the treaty as the beginning of efforts to further enhance the international nuclear arms control” — he concluded.

The agreement, officially called ’START 3’, limits the number of the deployed nuclear weapons by Washington and Moscow down to 1,550 warheads on each side. The agreement was signed in 2010, entered into force on 5th of February, 2011, and was supposed to expire in 10 years.

The «ANNA News» monitors the development of the events. Stay tuned.