MOSCOW: Russia and the United States drew closer Friday to extending a nuclear pact ahead of the fast approaching expiry date of the last arms control accord between the former Cold War rivals.
The New START treaty, which is due to expire on February 5, is seen as a rare opportunity for compromise between Moscow and Washington, whose ties have further deteriorated over recent cyber hacking and election meddling allegations.
The accord restricts Washington and Moscow to a maximum of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each, a cut of about 30 percent from a limit set in 2002, and 800 launchers and bombers — enough to blow up the world many times over.
The Kremlin on Friday welcomed a US proposal to prolong the pact by five years, but cautioned that any extension would depend on the specifics of the offer.
“We can only welcome the political will to extend this document,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, but warned that “everything depends on the details of this proposal”.
The comments from President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman came a day after the White House said Washington would work towards a five-year extension.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said efforts to find an agreement were all the more pertinent when “the relationship with Russia is adversarial as it is”.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday welcomed Biden’s proposal, saying: “We should not end up in a situation where we have no limitation whatsoever on nuclear warheads”.
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