Russia welcomes Biden’s proposal to extend new START agreement



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“We can only welcome the political will to expand this document,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

He noted that any decision to extend the contract would depend on the “details of this proposal.”

The White House announced Thursday that Biden had offered Russia a five-year extension of the new START treaty signed in 2010 by then-US-Russian presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev.

If not renewed, the new START contract must expire on February 5. This is the last pact to limit the nuclear arsenal in force between the two countries.

Russia has long proposed extending the treaty without conditions or changes, but President Donald Trump’s administration only began negotiations last year and tied the extension to a number of requirements. Negotiations have stalled and differences of opinion have not been reduced in a matter of months.

“There are certain conditions for the extension, and some of them are absolutely unacceptable to us, so let’s first see what the United States offers,” Peskov said.

During the election campaign, Biden hinted that he would like to keep the new START treaty that was negotiated while he was vice president of the United States.

Negotiations to extend the treaty were also overshadowed by tensions between Russia and the United States fueled by the crisis in Ukraine, Moscow’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election, and more.

As White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, in proposing an extension of the treaty, Biden remains committed to holding Russia accountable for reckless and hostile acts, such as alleged participation in a massive cyberattack against federal government agencies and corporations through Texas-based technology. SolarWinds company. Software, interference in the 2020 elections, poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navaln with nerve-crippling material, and alleged reward from the Taliban for killing US troops in Afghanistan.

When asked to comment on Psaki’s statement, Peskov reiterated Russia’s accusations that Moscow had not been involved in such activities.

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