US and Russia remain at odds over ‘New Start’ nuclear weapons pact
- Washington and Moscow give clashing accounts about extending their last major disarmament treaty
- At issue are US demands that Russia halt nuclear activities during extension period and submit to verification
The United States said Tuesday it had reached an agreement in principle with Russia to extend New Start, the last major nuclear treaty still in force, but Moscow quickly rejected US conditions.
President Donald Trump’s administration has been insisting without success that its nemesis China enter the treaty, which has limited the United States and Russia to 1,550 nuclear warheads each and expires on February 5.
With three weeks to go before US elections in which Trump is trailing in polls, the administration indicated it would support preserving the treaty for an unspecified period.
“We are in fact willing to extend the New Start treaty for some period of time provided that they, in return, agree to a limitation - a freeze - on their nuclear arsenal,” US negotiator Marshall Billingslea said.
“We believe that there is an agreement in principle at the highest levels of our two governments,” he said at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
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Billingslea cut short a trip to Asia last week to fly to Helsinki to see his Russian counterpart, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, saying that he sensed a breakthrough compromise.
