RPT: ANALYSIS - New START Extension Can Lead To US-Russian Talks To Limit Hypersonic, Space Weapons

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th February, 2021) The agreed extension of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) could provide the opening for negotiations between the United States and Russia on limiting hypersonic, cyber and space weapons, analysts told Sputnik.

On Wednesday, the United States and Russia agreed to extend the New START Treaty for five more years without any renegotiation of its terms. The treaty is now set to expire on February 5, 2026.

The agreement, in effect since 2011, remains the only arms control accord between the United States and Russia. It limits each state's nuclear arsenal to a total of 700 rockets, 1,550 warheads, and 800 launchers.

In light of former President Donald Trump's move to exit multiple arms control pacts, Moscow saw renewing New START as an area of mutual understanding with the incoming Biden administration.

The treaty, some experts feel, represents one of the few issues that the US and Russia see eye-to-eye on, especially recently with Biden officials repeatedly threatening Moscow with sanctions over a range of allegations about election meddling and hacking, all of which the Kremlin has refuted.

"Extending the treaty was absolutely essential to allow for progress in any bilateral arms control measures," Five College Peace and World Security Program Director Michael Klare told Sputnik. "It provides the space for US and Russian negotiators to undertake talks on how to address thorny issues like hypersonic missiles and cyberweapons."

However, he warned, other agreements are not likely in the near future.

"I think it is possible for the US and Russia to agree on new arms control measures, but this will first require extensive discussion and negotiations between high-level specialists on how to deal with emerging military technologies, such as hypersonics and autonomous weapons.

These will not fit easily into existing arms control framework," he said.

With respect to China, the Biden administration was unlikely to reverse previous Trump's policy and seek to engage China in an arms control agreement too, Klare continued.

Nevertheless, it was important for the United States to engage with China over the same set of issues that it was addressed with Russia, Klare explained.

State University of New York (SUNY) Professor Karl Grossman, a member of the UN-sponsored Commission on Disarmament education, Conflict Resolution and Peace also welcomed the agreement by Washington and Moscow to extend New START.

"I think the treaty's extension is a very positive sign. What a reverse from the Trump administration's discarding of international treaties - a foundation for peace," he said.

Grossman also emphasized the importance of moving ahead with new negotiations to defuse the growing dangers of conflict in space stemming from a new off-planet arms race.

"I think in terms of new measures in coming years, significant negotiations are needed. I believe that very important work would be on space issues - what with the United States under Trump establishing a US Space Force with the outrageous and extraordinarily dangerous aim of having the US achieve 'dominance' ...of space," he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a phone call discussed the necessity for new arms control deals, Department of State Spokesperson Ned price said on Thursday.