Washington, United States
US President Joe Biden proposed on Thursday to extend the “New START” nuclear weapons reduction treaty with Russia for five years within days of its expiration, but promised to put pressure on Moscow on various political issues.
Barely installed, the Biden administration wants to avoid another nuclear race, but has made it clear that it is not aiming for a “re-establishment” of relationships the way all White House tenants tried in various forms after the Cold War.
The treaty, which limited the number of nuclear warheads of the two powers to 1,550, is due to expire on February 5 and could not be renewed after talks under Donald Trump stalled.
The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, offered Trump to extend the treaty signed by the then president for a five-year period Barack Obama.
The United States is planning a five-year extension of the New startas the treaty allows, ”White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.
“This extension makes even more sense when the relationship with Russia is as unfavorable as it is now,” he added.
As a sign that it is not a blank check, Psaki also said the new intelligence chief, Avril Haines, will open an investigation into the apparent poisoning of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalni, the alleged Russian interference in elections and whether Moscow was lagging behind. the massive cyber attack against the American company SolarWinds.
Psaki said Washington would also investigate Russia’s alleged premium payment to Afghan extremists for killing US soldiers.
Biden’s approach is completely different from Trump, who declared his affection for Putin even when his government broke remaining arms control agreements with Russia.
US intelligence agencies concluded that Russia was operating in Trump’s favor in the 2016 election, including social media manipulation.
Psaki said the new investigation would assess whether there was any interference in last year’s election.
“As we work with Russia to advance America’s interests, we will also strive to hold Russia accountable for its reckless and negative actions,” Psaki said.
– Little progress with Trump –
Trump unsuccessfully tried to extend the treaty New start including China, whose nuclear program is growing but still much smaller than that of the United States and Russia.
As maturity approached, the Trump administration wanted to extend it for another year. However, talks stalled when the United States pushed for stricter verification of Moscow’s measures to reduce its nuclear arsenal.
Marshall Billingslea, who entrusted Trump to lead the negotiations, immediately condemned Biden’s proposal as “showing an astonishing lack of negotiating power.”
“It took only 24 hours for Biden’s team to squander the most important influence we have on Russia,” he said on Twitter.
“A better approach would be a short extension of six months, depending on reaching the limit of nuclear warheads that Putin accepted,” he said.
Several experts and anti-nuclear activists disagree with Billingslea’s analysis. They say there are no signs that Russia is willing to give in or that China is joining the deal.
“The only opponents are those striving for an unrestricted arms race. I am pleased to see the government abandon reckless chicken games with global security on day one,” tweeted Vipin Narang, a nuclear strategy expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Science. Technology (MIT).).
Derek Johnson, head of the anti-nuclear organization Global Zero, saw Biden’s proposal as key to the ultimate goal of a world without nuclear weapons.
“Unless you’re a defense contractor, this is good news for everyone,” he said.