WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th December, 2019) Russia has offered the United States to extend the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and is ready to consider all possible options with that respect, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with US President Donald Trump.
"We have offered Washington to consider any options to extend the agreement," Lavrov told journalists on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, speaking at a press conference after a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Lavrov reconfirmed Russia's position that it is prepared to extend the New START.
Russia has suggested that the United States extend the New START treaty for five years or for a shorter period if desired, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov announced earlier this month.
New START is the last remaining arms control treaty in force between Russia and the United States. Signed in 2010, the pact stipulates that the number of strategic nuclear missiles launchers must be cut by half and limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550.
