UNITED NATIONS, February 27. /TASS/. Moscow expects the United States’ response to its proposal on extending New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) without preconditions, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya has said.
"The calls on Russia to extend New START are sent to the wrong address. Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered the US to extend New START without preconditions," Nebenzya told the UN Security Council’s meeting on preparing for the 2020 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference.
New START treaty
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) was signed in 2010 and it 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 nuclear arms reduction treaty obliges the parties to exchange information on the number of warheads and carriers twice a year.
The New START Treaty will remain in force during 10 years until 2021, unless superseded by a subsequent agreement. It may be extended for a period of no more than five years (i.e. until 2026) upon the parties’ mutual consent.
Moscow has numerously called on Washington not to delay the decision on the Treaty’s possible extension.