The administration of the elected head of the United States, Joe Biden, will soon address the issue of extending the Treaty on Measures to Further Reduce and Limit Strategic Offensive Arms (START). “Kommersant”, citing a statement by Anthony Blinken, who was nominated for the post of Secretary of State.
At a Senate hearing, he expressed the opinion that the treaty could be extended for five years, but the president would make the final decision on its duration. At the same time, Blinken noted that the United States will not agree to any restrictions regarding the missile defense system.
The candidate for the post of the head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin in the Senate also confirmed that START is in the interests of US national security, and advocated multilateral agreements on the reduction of armaments.
In addition, Austin looks forward to continuing cooperation with Russia in the Arctic. However, he said that the Russian Federation is taking advantage of the openness of the American side and “is driving wedges between the United States and its partners.”
We will remind, earlier the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov expressed the hope that under Biden it will be possible to agree on the limitation of armaments within the framework of the START Treaty. The Russian minister named the US-elect as an arms control specialist.
START expires in February 2021. During the years of Donald Trump’s presidency, the Russian Federation and the United States could not agree on the extension of the agreement.
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