January 27th, local time, in the negotiation of the Russian-US Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (hereinafter referred to as the Treaty), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Riabkov said that there was no reason to continue to discuss with the United States for “one year of mutual freezing of nuclear warheads”.
Before Russia and the United States began negotiations today on the extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, Russia and the previous U.S. government had held relevant negotiations on the extension of the Treaty.
Riabkov stressed that Russia had previously proposed to freeze nuclear warheads for one year, but the previous U.S. government added many conditions that undermine Russia’s national security, which eventually forced the negotiations to not continue.
Riabkov said that the proposal was put forward by Russia to the former U.S. government, which did not want to be extended in its current form.
The combination of Russia’s proposal and the United States’ proposal to extend the treaty for one year shows that Moscow has had a serious and responsible dialogue with the previous U.S. government.
The consensus reached between Russia and the current U.S. government also reflects Russia’s responsible attitude. Russia’s actions in this field are not motivated by “opportunistic” and have always sought solutions and shown reasonable flexibility.
Riabkov said that the former U.S. government put forward a series of absolutely unacceptable conditions for Russia to extend the treaty.
If Russia compromises, it means destroying an important part of the national security system that ensures Russia, so Russia cannot “pander” to the United States.
It can be said that the United States is demanding that Russia’s previous proposal to freeze nuclear warheads be forced to “zero”. Russia has no reason to turn back now and will start negotiations with the United States from a new starting point.
Riabkov stressed that all the terms, statements and contents of the 2011 package of ratification are still in force.
Although we don’t want to talk about the negative situation, it does not rule out that the United States may still carry out destructive activities in this field and attempt to undermine Russia’s security, nor does it rule out the possibility that Russia has to withdraw from the treaty due to improper behavior of the United States.
Russia does not want the above situation to happen and will try to strengthen the international arms control system through negotiations with the United States.
It is expected that after the formation of the Washington diplomatic team, the two sides will quickly negotiate and start negotiations on this issue.
On January 26, Russian President Putin and U.S. President Biden talked on the phone, and the two sides agreed to extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty for five years.
Russian President Putin subsequently ordered the Russian Foreign Ministry to negotiate with the United States.
In 2010, Russia and the United States signed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which aims to limit the number of strategic nuclear warheads and delivery vehicles deployed by the two countries.
The treaty is currently the only arms control treaty in force between Russia and the United States and will expire on February 5, 2021.
