MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. Russia will be ready to discuss a new strategic arms reduction treaty (START) with the United States only if Washington stops supplying weapons to Ukraine and blocks its accession to NATO, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said.

In his Telegram channel Medvedev noted that the United States is quite serious about negotiating with Russia on a new treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive weapons.

"No, this is possible only after refusing to supply weapons to the Bandera regime and blocking its accession to NATO," the deputy head of the Russian Security Council stressed.

About START

On February 21, 2023, President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow would suspend participation in the New START Treaty, but would not withdraw from it. The head of state stressed that before returning to the discussion about further work under the treaty the Russian side must understand for itself how the New START treaty would take into account the arsenals of not only the United States, but also other NATO nuclear powers - the UK and France.

According to the terms of the treaty, each of the parties reduces its strategic offensive weapons in such a way that, seven years after the entry into force of the document and thereafter, their total quantities do not exceed 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and heavy bombers (TB), 1,550 warheads on them, 800 deployed and non-deployed launchers of ICBMs, SLBMs and TB.

The agreement, designed for 10 years, expired on February 5, 2021, but the document provided for the possibility of extension by mutual approval of the parties. In February 2021, Moscow and Washington extended the agreement, which Russian authorities called the gold standard in the field of disarmament, for maximum possible five years.