MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd February, 2021) The agreement on the extension of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) entered into force on February 3, Russia and the United States exchanged relevant notes, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"On February 3, 2021 the MFA of Russia and the U.S. Embassy in Moscow exchanged diplomatic notes regarding the completion of internal procedures required for the entry into force of the Agreement to extend the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms of April 8, 2010 (New START). Accordingly, this Agreement entered into force on the same day," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry noted that "the Treaty will remain in effect exactly as it had been signed, without any amendments or additions, until February 5, 2026."
"The telephone conversation between the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and the U.S. President Joseph Biden on January 26, 2021 became key for this development to proceed," it said.
Earlier, the Kremlin said that Putin had signed a document to extend the New START for five years.
The New START entered into force on February 5, 2011. It stipulates that each side will reduce its nuclear arsenals so that in seven years and in the future, the total number of weapons does not exceed 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles, ballistic missiles on submarines and heavy bombers, as well as 1,550 warheads and 800 deployed and non-deployed launchers. The New START was set to expire on February 5, 2021.
