MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/. The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) needs to remain "a safety net" for Moscow and Washington even if other countries join discussions on the matter, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

"We believe that there is sense in extending New START, which will expire in a year. After February 5, 2020, the treaty will be no more if it is not extended," he pointed out. "Even if a multilateral process is launched, it will take a long time because talks on such a serious issue never conclude in a couple of months. This is why there is a need to ensure a safety net by extending New START so that as far as the political standing of Russia and the US is concerned, no one can accuse us of destroying a legally binding strategic stability tool," Lavrov added.

According to the Russian top diplomat, the US keeps insisting on engaging China in discussions of issues concerning intermediate and shorter range missiles and, if multilateral talks on New START begin, Russia "will also be part of the process." "However, a multilateral process implies that there are more than three participants. There are another two nuclear powers, the United Kingdom and France. India and Pakistan, in fact, are also nuclear powers though they are not part of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. There are a couple more countries that have nuclear weapons," Lavrov noted.

"We are ready to take part in any talks on the further reduction of nuclear weapons," he emphasized.

The Russian foreign minister added that Washington had not yet given a specific response to Moscow’s proposal to extend New START.

New START

New START, which came into force in 2011, limits Russia and the US to no more than 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and strategic bombers, no more than 1,550 deployed warheads and 800 deployed and non-deployed launchers.

The Treaty is set to remain in effect for ten years (until 2021) unless a new document is signed to replace it. The document can also be extended for no more than five years (that is, until 2026) by mutual agreement of the parties.