New START Extension A Lifeline, US, Russia Play 'Political Football' - Ex-UN Envoy

New START Extension A Lifeline, US, Russia Play 'Political Football' - Ex-UN Envoy

The current talks on the possible extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) are a way for Washington and Moscow to keep the deal alive as the two states continue playing "political football," former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Angela Kane told Sputnik

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st October, 2020) The current talks on the possible extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) are a way for Washington and Moscow to keep the deal alive as the two states continue playing "political football," former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Angela Kane told Sputnik.

The New START the last arms control agreement between the United States and Russia is set to expire in February 2021. Russia and the United States have so far failed to agree on its extension. Russia has suggested that it be extended for five years without preconditions but the US has not agreed to the proposal, saying it sought to conclude a multilateral arms control deal to include China. However, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing a senior US administration official, that the US and Russia nearly reached a deal to extend the New START treaty and freeze the development of new nuclear warheads for one year.

"It is very much, I think, a political football between the two sides ... What is important is that we see some way of safeguarding the New START and keep it alive, even if it is going to be renegotiated later on, but at least we would have something on the table, which would maintain the last existing treaty between the US and the Russian Federation," Kane said.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the goal of a one-year extension would be to buy time to negotiate a future arms control treaty that includes China.

On Tuesday, Moscow expressed its readiness to freeze nuclear warheads along with the US to extend the treaty by one year. The US State Department also said White House officials were ready to meet with their Russian counterparts immediately to finalize an agreement on nuclear arms control.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said a world without the New START would represent a full-blown threat. The Russian leader appeared to backtrack on the proposal to prolong the deal by five years and suggested instead extending it for one year, without any conditions, so that the two sides could discuss all the parameters of the arms control during this period.

US National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien called Russia's proposal "a non-starter." The United States had earlier suggested extending the treaty for one year if Moscow and Washington froze the number of their nuclear warheads for that period.

Kane also spoke about the importance of arms control for international security in general and the fragility of the nuclear nonproliferation regime. According to the ex-UN envoy, there is an absence of willingness on the part of all nuclear powers to negotiate a way out of the current situation.

"I think that multilateral and bilateral arms control ... gives you visibility, it gives you transparency, it gives you confidence-building measures, it gives you military-to-military exchanges � all of that is extremely important in order to get to know what is happening on the other side, how can you cooperate and how can you avoid any accidents or any inadvertent launches or whatever," Kane told Sputnik, responding to criticism that the non-proliferation regime was outdated and inadequate.

The ex-envoy argued that many aspects of the regime have changed, particularly due to the development of technology, but all these changes need to be negotiated, which would require experts to be involved and may take months.

However, Kane noted, no country has outlined the need for these negotiations.

"It would really be helpful for the overall climate in the arms control to sort of say we really need to sit together and we need to talk about this and we need to make a plan as to what are we going to negotiate, how we're going to negotiate and who's going to help us in this matter. That's missing," Kane pointed out.

The non-proliferation regime is currently "very fragile," she said.

"I fear that the demands by the non-nuclear powers are going to be become ever more vociferous to sort of say � you nuclear powers are seen this as an entitlement, but not as something that eventually is going to disappear, even if it takes a while," Kane suggested.

Nuclear arsenals and defense budgets have been building up for 50 years since the Non-Proliferation Treaty came into force, Kane pointed out, calling it "not a very positive development." Moreover, deals that formed the non-proliferation regime have collapsed.

"No one has made any efforts to negotiate any new agreement. Where are the proposals? Where is the thinking about what else can we agree on, how are we going to agree on it, what are we going to include? The US has always said we need to talk about missiles. And if other states agree to talk about missiles, who is going to take the initiative?" Kane said.

The former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs added that nuclear powers have yet to agree on "what are we going to negotiate, how we are going to negotiate and with whom we're going to negotiate." Kane concluded that the current situation is "very difficult."