MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. Work to extend the New START treaty should begin right away, otherwise the document will cease to exist in 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, addressing a meeting of Russian ambassadors and envoys on Thursday.

According to him, those in the US who oppose the restoration of ties with Russia are actually ready to sacrifice their country’s security. "The New START Treaty will expire in 2021. In fact, we could do without it even a few years ago. Nevertheless, we did the right thing by signing this document but if work to extend the treaty is not started today - without delay - it will expire in eighteen months, it will just cease to exist," Putin stressed.

New START treaty

The New Start treaty, which was signed on April 8, 2010, and entered into force in 2011, stipulates that seven years after its entry into effect, each party should have no more than a total of 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and strategic bombers, as well as no more than 1,550 warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs and strategic bombers, and a total of 800 deployed and non-deployed missile launchers.

The document is set to remain in effect until February 5, 2021, unless it is replaced with another agreement on nuclear arms reduction. It can also be extended for no more than five years extended with the consent of the parties.