New START Extension Should Be Just Beginning Of US-Russian Disarmament Diplomacy - NGO

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th January, 2021) An agreement on prolonging the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) should be just the start and not the finish of US-Russian nuclear disarmament diplomacy, the US Arms Control Association said in a statement.

Earlier, the White House said President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a phone call discussed both countries' willingness to extend New START for five years and agreed to have their teams work to complete the extension by the February 5 deadline.

"New START extension should be just the beginning and not the end of US and Russian nuclear disarmament diplomacy," the release said on Tuesday.

"A key objective of the next round of bilateral talks should be, in part, deeper verifiable cuts in deployed strategic nuclear weapons."

US-Russian follow-on talks, the release added, should address nonstrategic nuclear weapons along with long-range, dual-capable conventional missiles, including those formerly banned by the INF Treaty.

New START has been in force since 2011 and is due to expire on February 5. It is the only remaining legally binding agreement on nuclear arms control between Russia and the United States. The treaty limits each country's nuclear arsenal to 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles, 1,550 nuclear warheads and 800 launchers.