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Military communication channels may serve as safety net if New START expires, says expert

According to the expert, it will take a long time to agree a new document because there are many difficulties preventing the parties from reaching an agreement

MOSCOW, October 30. /TASS/. Military communication channels between Russia and the US, as well as deconfliction mechanisms that proved to be effective in Syria, may become a safety net if talks on extending the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) fail, Moscow Carnegie Center Director Dmitry Trenin said at the Ogarkov Readings forum, organized by the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.

According to the expert, it will take a long time to agree a new document because there are many difficulties preventing the parties from reaching an agreement. In such a situation, chances are high that there will be no rules left regulating Russia-US relations in the area of arms control, so deterrence methods will remain the only factor ensuring strategic stability.

"As for nuclear deterrence, the network of communication channels between the top brass of the Russian and US military, deconfliction protocols that we have seen in Syria, and other so-called confidence-building measures, will become a safety net that will make it possible to avoid fatal mistakes," Trenin pointed out. At the same time, in his words, the US will continue to take advantage of its economic power to drag Russian into an arms race. That said, Russia should be guided by the principles of strategic stability and reasonable sufficiency, the expert added.

"In response to the threats that come from the United States’ forward-based forces in Europe and Asia, there is a need to create similar threats for targets in the US, and not only for US bases in allied countries," Trenin explained.

According to him, it is impossible for Russia to achieve parity in non-nuclear weapons and efforts to achieve it will be ruinous for the Russian economy. "However, Russia’s conventional forces should have abilities that won’t allow the US to get away after targeting Russia," Trenin emphasized.

New START issue

Moscow calls on Washington not to delay a decision on extending the treaty. Putin said earlier in an interview with the Financial Times that if New START ceased to exist, the world would have no tools left to curb an arms race.