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Russian envoy upbeat about reports of US plans to extend New START

The extension will give Moscow and Washington time to consider additional measures to enhance strategic stability, according to the permanent representative

Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin

Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov

© AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin

VIENNA, January 22. /TASS/. The extension of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) will give Russia and the US time to consider additional measures to enhance strategic stability, Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov wrote on Twitter, commenting on reports that the administration of US President Joe Biden plans to extend New START.

Read also

Russia hails US proposal for New START extension, but all depends on details — Kremlin

"An encouraging step. The extension will give the two sides more time to consider possible additional measures aimed at strengthening strategic stability and global security," the tweet reads.

Encouraging step. The extension will give the two sides more time to consider possible additional measures aimed at strengthening strategic stability and global security. https://t.co/SzEs69thWA
— Mikhail Ulyanov (@Amb_Ulyanov) January 22, 2021

The Washington Post wrote earlier, citing "two senior US officials," that "President Biden is seeking a five-year extension with Russia on the only remaining treaty limiting the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals just days before it expires."

New START issue

New START, which was signed in 2010 and 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 February 5, 2021) unless a new document is signed to replace it.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on January 20 that Moscow continued to call for extending the treaty, preferably for five years. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov pointed out on January 15 that if Washington dropped its additional conditions, an agreement "may be reached quite quickly."

Military operation in Ukraine

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