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This treaty, which expires in February, is the last surviving agreement that still governs the arsenals of the two largest nuclear powers.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has unsuccessfully demanded that China join the treaty.
Three weeks before the US presidential election, and polls show Trump was falling behind his rival, the administration said it supported maintaining the treaty indefinitely.
“In fact, we are prepared to extend the new START treaty for a period of time if in exchange they agree to limit – freeze – their nuclear arsenal,” said US negotiator Marshall Billingslea.
“We believe that an agreement has been reached in principle at the highest levels of our two governments,” he told the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Billingslea interrupted a trip to Asia last week and flew to Helsinki to meet with his Russian counterpart, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov, saying he felt great progress and commitment.
However, Riabkov said that the US demand for a temporary freeze on nuclear activities was an “unacceptable offer.”
“If the Americans agree with the documents we give them, an agreement could be reached even tomorrow,” he said.
“But with so many differences, I have no idea what our colleagues in Washington are raising such theories,” Novosti told RIA.
“We are ready to conclude this agreement. In fact, we can do it tomorrow. But Moscow will also have to show political will to make that happen,” Billingslea said.
“Permanent breach of contract”
There is disagreement over the United States’ demands that Russia suspend nuclear activities and allow inspections during the extension period.
According to Billingslea, the United States would also agree to appropriate inspections.
“If we know anything about the Russians, it is that they are constantly violating treaties,” he said.
The Trump administration has already pulled out of a major Cold War treaty restricting medium-range nuclear forces, saying Russia had violated the treaty.
The United States administration also renounced a treaty that allowed both parties to fly over classified or important locations against each other. There have been reports that Trump was outraged by a Russian spy plane flying over his Bedminister golf courses in New Jersey.
Joe Biden, an unpopular Democratic presidential candidate for the United States, welcomes the extension of the new START treaty, which will expire shortly after the president’s inauguration.
Biden calls the treaty, negotiated by former Democratic President Barack Obama and renewable for up to five years, an “anchor of strategic stability between the United States and Russia.”
Keep pushing China
Billingslea said the United States still demands the participation of China, whose nuclear program is expanding rapidly and is not limited by any treaty, although so far only a small portion of Russia and the United States’ arsenals.
“Everything that we agree with the Russians must be formulated and arranged so that we can extend that agreement to the Chinese when they finally sit at the negotiating table,” Billingslea said.
China’s disarmament envoy Li Song reiterated Beijing’s position on Tuesday that it was irrational to contribute to the US-Russia talks.
“There are only two largest nuclear arsenals on Earth. Not three,” he wrote on Twitter.
Russia, which sees nuclear weapons as a major strategic asset as the United States spends much more money on defense, had 6,375 nuclear warheads earlier this year, including undeployed ones, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute ( SIPRI).
The United States had 5,800 nuclear warheads, followed by China, with 320 warheads, in third place.
By indirectly attacking US allies in favor of extending the new START treaty, Billingslea called for greater international pressure on China.
“There is a serious threat to confidence in the countries that claim to be at the forefront of nuclear weapons control. We see those who decided to keep quiet,” he said.
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