MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. Moscow insists on the discussion of problems stemming from the United States’ plans to deploy weapons in outer space, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Sunday.
"We have worded the New START (Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms - TASS). One of the major factors was the US’ consent to use in the preamble (but to use after all) a reference to the links between offensive and defensive strategic weapons, obviously meaning missile defense," he said in an interview with the Bolshaya Igra (Big Game) program on Russia’s television Channel One.
"We have never denied the necessity to consider the entire spectrum of problems in the sphere of strategic stability with due account of all the aspects of this situation that can tell on strategic stability, including strategic offensive nuclear weapons, strategic non-nuclear weapons the Americans are developing as part of their prompt global strike concept, and missile defense," he said.
"Now that it is obvious that this missile defense system has nothing to do with the task of fend off Iran but is a really global system, we insist on the discussion of problems linked with the plans to deploy weapons in outer space that have been announced not only by the Americans but also by the French," Lavrov stressed.
According to the Russian top diplomat, the United States’ statement that it would not ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty "adds no stability or certainty either." So, in his words, along with the New START extension, all the key players will have to speak about the entire spectrum of these problems.
New START
The Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the New START Treaty) entered into force on February 5, 2011. The document 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 ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers and strategic bombers.
The New START Treaty will remain in force for 10 years, until 2021, unless it is replaced before that date by a subsequent agreement on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms. It can also be extended for no longer than 5 years (that is, until 2026) by the parties’ mutual consent.