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Russian-US talks on New START to be held in Geneva in two weeks — diplomat

A session of the American-Russian consultative commission on the New START will be held within the next couple of weeks in Geneva

MOSCOW, September 25. /TASS/. A session of the American-Russian consultative commission on the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) will be held within the next couple of weeks in Geneva, said Director of the Department for the Arms Non-Proliferation and Control at the Russian Foreign Ministry Vladimir Yermakov on Tuesday.

"A bilateral consultative commission will convene in Geneva in two weeks," the diplomat said.

Yermakov stressed that Moscow is ready to conduct negotiations to prolong the New START for five more years if Washington thoroughly abides by its obligations under the agreement.

"We cannot extend an agreement that won’t be executed. We’re conducting serious work with our American partners to remove this problem within the agreement. We are hammering out proposals on how it should be done. It is possible to agree on prolonging the treaty it if there is political willpower from the American side, then the Russian side is ready for it," he noted.

The New START Treaty came into force in 2011. According to the document, each party must meet its strategic arms reduction limits within seven years after its enactment, and in the future the total number would not exceed 700 deployed ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles), SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles) and heavy bombers, and 1,550 warheads emplaced on them, and 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers and SLBM launchers, and deployed and non-deployed heavy bombers. New START will remain in force for 10 years (until 2021) if it is not replaced by a new agreement before then. It may also be extended for no more than five years (that is, until 2026) if both sides agree.

The 15th session of the American-Russian consultative commission on the New START Treaty was held in Geneva on April 10-20.