Arms Control Policy Under Biden Not Off to a Good New START
Russian President Vladimir Putin, seen here Jan. 19 near Moscow, is said to have held off negotiating the extension of the New START arms control treaty with the U.S. pending the outcome of the American presidential election. (Photo: Alexei Nikolsky/TASS/Getty Images)
Commentary By
Patty-Jane Geller is a policy analyst who focuses on nuclear deterrence and missile defense at the Center for National Defense at The Heritage Foundation.
News that President Joe Biden intends to seek a five-year extension of the New START agreement with Russia is disappointing, to say the least.
“Russia is for preserving New START and for extending this treaty in order to gain time for talks and contacts,” Mr. Peskovsaid, according to a report in the TASS news agency. “We can only welcome the political will to extend this document, but everything will depend on the details of this proposal, which are yet to be studied.”
Mr. Peskov did not clarify whether Russia had received a formal offer from Washington outlining the five-year extension, which by treaty can be done unilaterally by Mr. Biden without congressional approval.
The Trump administration in its final year pushed for significant revisions in New START, citing a Russian build-up in shorter-range nuclear weapons not covered under the deal and the need to bring China and its rapidly growing nuclear arsenal into the talks.
Biden Seeks 5-Year Extension of Nuke Treaty With Russia: Pentagon
President Joe Biden made a decision to propose to Russia a five-year extension of the New START treaty that limits the number of U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapons, John Kirby, chief Pentagon spokesman said in a statement on Thursday.
The treaty, which restricts the United States and Russia to deploying no more than 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads each, is due to expire on Feb. 5.
“We cannot afford to lose New START’s intrusive inspection and notification tools,” the statement said.
“Extending the treaty’s limitations on stockpiles of strategic nuclear weapons until 2026 allows time and space for our two nations to explore new verifiable arms control arrangements that could further reduce risks to Americans,” Kirby said in the statement.
President Joe Biden will seek a five-year extension of the New Start arms control treaty with Russia, reversing the Trump administration’s hard-line stance in negotiations barely two weeks before the deal was set to expire.