MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2019) Two senior lawmakers from the US Democratic Party have sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, calling upon him to extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).
In late July, then US National Security Adviser John Bolton said that the New START Treaty was flawed and, therefore, unlikely to be extended beyond its expiry date in February 2021, albeit no final decision had yet been made.
"In the 16 months left before the current Treaty expires, we urge the Administration ... to put its energy toward extending New START, thus guaranteeing continued strategic stability between the United States and Russia," the letter, written by Chairman of the House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee Eliot Engel and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Menendez, said.
The senators raised alarms about the US administration failures while dealing with Russia.
"The lack of senior leadership and the dearth of information coming from the administration regarding these critical security issues is alarming and leaves us deeply concerned that in the near future Russia's strategic nuclear systems will be completely unconstrained and that the United States will lose key insights into Russia's nuclear arsenal," the lawmakers said.
They called on Pompeo to brief the Congress on the strategy concerning the strategic stability between the United States and Russia.
"It is our desire to work closely with you to extend the New START Treaty and ensure that we maintain strong, verifiable limits on Russia's nuclear forces," Engel and Menendez added.
The New START Treaty was signed in 2010 and will expire in 2021. Russia has repeatedly stressed that it is ready for a dialogue on the future of the treaty.
