Russia Welcomes Biden's Readiness To Extend Nuclear Treaty

Russia welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden's intention to extend for five years the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expires on Feb. 5 and is the only nuclear disarmament agreement still in force between the two countries.

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"Undoubtedly, we can only welcome the political will to prolong this document, but everything depends on the details of the proposal, which I am not yet ready to comment on," Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

He explained that his government does not yet know what the United States wants to discuss specifically. However, Russia hopes that the Start will be prolonged without conditions.

"So far, certain conditions for its prolongation had been presented, part of which did not suit us in any way. Therefore, we will first look at the proposed U.S. and then comment on it," Peskov said.

On Thursday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki announced that Biden intends to seek a five-year extension of New START.

"The President has long been clear that the New START Treaty is in the national security interests of the United States.  And this extension makes even more sense when the relationship with Russia is adversarial, as it is at this time," Psaki said.

During President Donald Trump's administration (2017-2021), the U.S. tried to extend the nuclear treaty but failed to do so because the Republican politician insisted that China be part of the agreement.

For its part, Russia proposed that the treaty should also include France and the United Kingdom, which are two nuclear powers and permanent members of the UN Security Council.

The New START deal limits the number of strategic nuclear weapons, with a maximum of 1,550 nuclear warheads and 700 ballistic systems for each of the two nuclear powers.