US arms control experts are urging President Donald Trump to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal to extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) for one year without conditions, the Arms Control Association said in a release on Friday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2020) US arms control experts are urging President Donald Trump to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal to extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) for one year without conditions, the Arms Control Association said in a release on Friday.
Former Acting Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Thomas Countryman underscored in the release that extending the New STAR is vital for US, Russian and international security.
"We strongly urge President Trump to take 'yes' for an answer to Russia's proposal to extend the New START without conditions, ideally for five years," Countryman said.
Arms Control Association Executive Director Daryl Kimball warned in the release that the not extending the New START would open the door to an ever-more dangerous and costly global nuclear arms race.
"In the absence of New START, Washington and Moscow could quickly 'upload' several hundred additional warheads on existing deployed delivery systems to exceed the treaty's 1,550 warhead ceiling," Kimball said. "Such unconstrained nuclear arms racing would be unaffordable and dangerous for both sides."
Kimball said a five-year "clean" extension of the New START would provide a foundation and the time for follow-on discussions and agreements to address "unconstrained nuclear warheads and non-nuclear weapons that impact strategic stability, and to improve opportunities to more fully include other nuclear-armed states, including China, the UK and France, in the arms control process.:
Earlier on Friday, Putin said a world without the New START - the last arms control agreement between the United States and Russia that is set to expire in February - would represent a full-blown threat. Putin also said that Russia has new weapons systems of the kind that the United States does not, but Moscow is willing to discuss this issue.
Putin said he had asked Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to formulate Russia's position on the New STAR, present it to the United States and attempt to receive a clear response from Washington quickly. Lavrov promised he would do this as soon as possible.
