MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/. The United States’ reluctance to extend the restrictions established by the New START Treaty (New START) indicates its plans to upgrade its nuclear forces, Colonel Nikolay Shabaltas, former head of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces Combat Training Department, told TASS.

"The first reason is that the US wants to upgrade its nuclear forces and not be tied to Russia. The second is that they insist that Chinese missiles be included in this treaty in addition to Russian missiles and nuclear weapons," the expert said.

According to him, the US insists that the treaty "must be comprehensive – not limited to Russia and the US, but include all nuclear powers," such as China, India, Great Britain, and France.

The Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the New START Treaty) between Russia and the United States, the last remaining international legal limit on nuclear weapons deployment, expired on February 5 due to Washington’s reluctance to extend it. US President Donald Trump earlier indicated that he expected to negotiate a "better" agreement that would include China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested extending the treaty’s validity for another year after the document expired but received no official response from Washington to the initiative. As for China, Moscow believes that it’s up to Beijing to make a decision and will respect any choice China makes. However, Russia emphasized that if New START’s scope was expanded at some point, it should include nuclear powers such as the UK and France, US allies and NATO members, whose nuclear capabilities are not covered by any strategic stability agreement.