The United States on Thursday (17 December) reiterated a proposal already rejected by Moscow for extending their last strategic arms limitation treaty, appearing to close the door to talks in the final weeks of the Trump administration.
The 2010 New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) expires on 5 February unless the presidents of the world’s two biggest nuclear arms powers agree to extend it by up to five years. The deadline puts pressure on US President-elect Joe Biden to act quickly after taking office on 20 January.
The treaty’s lapse would end all restraints on deployments of US and Russian strategic nuclear warheads and the missiles, bombers and submarines that carry them, fueling a new nuclear arms race, policy experts said.
World
Friday, December 18, 2020 at 3:59 am | ג טבת תשפ א
WASHINGTON/ MOSCOW (Reuters) -
Friday, December 18, 2020 at 3:59 am | ג טבת תשפ א
President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, in 2019. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo)
The United States, responding to Russia blaming Washington for starting a new arms race, on Thursday reiterated a proposal already rejected by Moscow for extending their last strategic arms limitation treaty, appearing to close the door to talks in the final weeks of the Trump administration.
The 2010 New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) expires on Feb. 5 unless the presidents of the world’s two biggest nuclear arms powers agree to extend it by up to five years. The deadline puts pressure on U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to act quickly after taking office on Jan. 20.
UPDATE 1-U.S. response to Putin may close door to more arms control talks under Trump Reuters 12/18/2020
(Recasts with U.S. response to Putin, background on arms talks)
WASHINGTON/MOSCOW, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The United States, responding to Russia blaming Washington for starting a new arms race, on Thursday reiterated a proposal already rejected by Moscow for extending their last strategic arms limitation treaty, appearing to close the door to talks in the final weeks of the Trump administration.
The 2010 New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) expires on Feb. 5 unless the presidents of the world s two biggest nuclear arms powers agree to extend it by up to five years. The deadline puts pressure on U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to act quickly after taking office on Jan. 20.
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The United States has responded to Russia’s call to continue negotiations on the New START arms-control treaty by reiterating a U.S. proposal and saying the Russians have rejected attempts to restart the talks.
The U.S. proposal calls for a one-year extension of New START and an undefined warhead freeze to which Marshall Billingslea, U.S. President Donald Trump s special arms-control envoy, said Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed. We already responded, repeatedly. 5 times we offered, incl. in writing, to meet to finalize the freeze/extension deal to which Putin agreed, Billingslea said on Twitter. The Russian Foreign Ministry rejected all mtgs, he added. All we need to do is define what we are freezing, the cap level & start verification talks.