UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Russia and the United States to have time to extend the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START, START-3) before its expiration on February 5. This was stated at a briefing on Friday, January 22, by the official representative of the UN Secretary General Stephane Dujarrick.
According to him, Guterres welcomed the decision of the United States to seek an extension of START III, as well as Russia’s agreement to extend the treaty.
“The Secretary General urges both countries to act quickly to complete the necessary procedures to extend the treaty before its expiration date of February 5, and to move quickly to develop new arms control measures,” Dujarrick said.
He noted that “the five-year period will not only extend the credible mechanism of control over the two largest arsenals of nuclear weapons, but will also provide time for the negotiation of new agreements on arms control.”
Earlier that day, the Russian Foreign Ministry greeted the US intention to extend START-3 by five years. The Russian Federation is ready to immediately enter into contact through the foreign ministries in order to draw up agreements on the extension of the treaty as soon as possible.
On the same day, Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said that Washington’s intention to extend START-3 opens the way to reaching an agreement.
On January 21, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States was proposing to Russia to extend this START Treaty for the maximum possible period of five years.
On January 19, the candidate for the post of the head of the US State Department Anthony Blinken confirmed that the administration of President Joe Biden intends to seek an extension of the START Treaty. In turn, the candidate for the post of head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin emphasized that the extension of START is in the interests of US national security.
The START-3 Treaty between Russia and the United States was signed on February 5, 2011 and expires in 2021. The agreement provides for the reduction by its parties of their nuclear potential. Moscow has repeatedly called on Washington to extend the treaty, but the United States put forward a number of conditions that were unacceptable for Russia.