MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/. Statements and actions by the administration of US President Donald Trump demonstrate that the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) was properly drafted, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS in an interview.
He made the remarks in response to a TASS correspondent’s joke suggesting that the US leader would immediately agree to extend the New START Treaty if the agreement were renamed the "Donald Trump Global Security and Stability Treaty."
"I want to point out that even during Trump’s first term, when there were fewer grounds for such jokes than now, we heard that his administration was dissatisfied with New START. Even then, we saw this as a sign that the treaty was designed correctly," the deputy foreign minister said.
Ryabkov emphasized that the New START was balanced, contained no unilateral concessions, and maintained a carefully calibrated balance of interests.
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the last international legal restriction on the deployment of nuclear weapons, expired on February 5 due to Washington’s reluctance to extend it. US President Donald Trump had proposed to make a "better" agreement that would include China.
Moscow suggested extending the treaty’s validity for another year after the document expired but received no official response from Washington to the initiative. As for China, Moscow believes that it’s Beijing’s prerogative to make a decision and will respect any choice China makes. However, Russia emphasized that if New START’s scope was expanded at some point, it should include nuclear powers such as the UK and France, US allies and NATO members, whose nuclear capabilities are not covered by any strategic stability agreement.