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Kremlin welcomes US display of political will to preserve New START deal

The spokesman emphasized that efforts to preserve the New START must go down the path of mutual respect and accounting of mutual interests

MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/. The Kremlin has hailed the display of US political will to extend the New START Treaty, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.

"You know that Russia and the Russian president continually advocate the preservation of this crucial and cornerstone document from the standpoint of global strategic stability and security. Therefore, if, indeed, our American colleagues display political will to preserve this document via its initial extension, this could only be welcomed," Peskov said.

The spokesman emphasized that efforts to preserve the New START "must go down the path of mutual respect and accounting of mutual interests anyway."

Commenting on the statement, made by Antony Blinken, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for US secretary of state, which he made during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Tuesday, Peskov underscored that "our experts are well aware of Mr. Blinken’s main approaches to the issue of Russian-American relations."

"Therefore, in case his ideology faced no changes, we are well aware of what to expect," the spokesman said.

In his statement, Blinken claimed that the Biden administration intends to work on extending the New START. He promised to get down to this issue as soon as Biden is sworn in as president, because the treaty will expire in early February. When asked to provide assurances that Washington will not concede to restrictions on the missile defense system during the talks, Blinken stated that he cannot imagine any circumstances when the US would do that.