The head of the Russian upper house's defense committee has welcomed the agreement between Russia and the United States to extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th January, 2021) The head of the Russian upper house's defense committee has welcomed the agreement between Russia and the United States to extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).
Earlier on Wednesday, Moscow and Washington topped months of negotiations by announcing an agreement to extend the arms control treaty for another five years.
"Thanks to the work of our president and government, the level of trust between Russia and the United States is increasing. We need to stop fighting and find common grounds toward the further enhancement of global peace and stability," Viktor Bondarev told journalists.
According to the lawmaker, the extension agreement points to "good intentions" on the part of both politicians and the military.
The draft agreement was submitted for ratification to the lower house by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday after a phone conversation with US President Joe Biden.
A source in the Russian upper house told Sputnik earlier on Wednesday that the draft agreement was recommended for ratification by the house's international affairs committee. The committee's head, Konstantin Kosachev, expects the ratification to occur by the end of the day.
"Normally ratification of int. treaties in RF [Russian Federation] takes a long time. In case of extension of the #START Treaty the Russian Parliament, judging by remarks of its high-level representatives will aim at finalising the process within record-breaking period of time, almost immediately," Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said on Twitter.
According to the envoy, the prompt ratification points to "highly responsible approach of Russia to strategic stability and international security associated to a large extent with the #START Treaty and its continued operation without time gaps."
New START has been in force since 2011 and was due to expire on February 5. It is the only remaining legally binding agreement on nuclear arms control between the two countries that own the world's two largest nuclear stockpiles. Its premises are that each side ultimately reduce their nuclear arsenal to total 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles, 1,550 nuclear warheads and 800 launchers.
