Putin signs law that extends the new START nuclear weapons treaty between the US and Russia

by

The nuclear weapons control agreement has been extended for five years until February 5, 2026, the Kremlin said. It is the last major pact of its kind between Russia and the US after the US pulled out of a separate nuclear arms control agreement with Russia, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), under the Trump administration in 2019.

Putin and US President Joe Biden spoke on the phone on Tuesday and expressed “satisfaction” at the exchange of diplomatic notes between the two countries on the extension of the treaty. The Russian parliament voted on Wednesday to ratify the five-year extension.

The treaty limits the number of strategic offensive weapons that both countries can have.

Biden confronts Putin with several issues during the initial meeting, the White House says

The treaty limits each side to no more than 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and heavy bombers; not more than 1,550 warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs and heavy bombers for nuclear weapons; and a total of 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers and heavy bombers.

“ The renewal of the Treaty meets the national interests of the Russian Federation, makes it possible to maintain the transparency and predictability of the strategic relations between Russia and the United States and to support global strategic stability; it will have a beneficial effect on the international situation, and contribute to the nuclear disarmament process, ” the Kremlin said in the statement released Friday evening.

Last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters “that the New START treaty is in the interests of the national security of the United States, and this extension makes even more sense when relations with Russia are hostile, as on this moment. “

She added that it was “the only remaining treaty that restrains Russia’s nuclear forces and is an anchor of strategic stability between our two countries.”

.Source