Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that Russia stands for extending the pact and is waiting to see the details of the US proposal. The White House said Thursday that Biden has proposed to Russia a five-year extension of the New START treaty. Biden indicated during the campaign that he favored the preservation of the New START treaty, which was negotiated during his tenure as US vice president. After both Moscow and Washington withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, New START is the only remaining nuclear arms control deal between the two countries. Arms control advocates have strongly called for New START’s preservation, warning that its lapse would remove any checks on US and Russian nuclear forces.

Source: Egypt Independent January 22, 2021 10:52 UTC