Washington, United States
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday proposed extending the “New START” nuclear weapons reduction treaty with Russia for five years just days after its expiration but vowed to put pressure on Moscow on various political issues.
Once installed, the Biden government wants to avoid a new nuclear race but made it clear that it does not seek a “restoration” of relationships such as those of various forms to try all the White House tenants after the Cold War.
The treaty, which limited the number of nuclear warheads of the two powers to 1,550, expires on February 5 and could not be renewed after talks stalled under the Donald Trump administration.
Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Trump to extend this treaty signed in 2010 by then-president for five years barack Obama.
“The United States intends to seek an extension for five years of the New beginning“As the treaty allows,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.
“This extension makes even more sense when the relationship with Russia is as adverse as it is at the moment,” he added.
As a sign that this is not a blank check, Psaki also said that the new head of intelligence, Avril Haines, will open an investigation into the apparent poisoning of the Kremlin opponent Aleksei Navalni, on alleged Russian interference in elections and on whether Moscow was behind the massive cyberattack against the American company SolarWinds.
Psaki said Washington would also investigate the alleged payment of Russian rewards to Afghan extremists for killing American soldiers.
Biden’s approach is completely different from Trump, Who proclaimed his affection for Putin even though his government broke the remaining arms control agreements with Russia.
U.S. intelligence concluded that Russia operated in favor of Trump in the 2016 election, which included manipulation of social media.
Psaki said the new investigation would assess whether there was any interference in last year’s election.
“As we work with Russia to advance the interests of the United States, we will also work to hold Russia accountable for its reckless and adverse actions,” Psaki said.
– Little progress with Trump –
Trump tried unsuccessfully to extend the treaty New beginning to include in China, the nuclear program is growing but still much smaller than those in the United States and Russia.
As the day of the expiration approached, the Trump administration wanted to extend it one more year. However the negotiations stalled at the insistence of the United States on a stricter verification of Moscow’s actions to reduce its nuclear arsenals.
Marshall Billingslea, whom Trump trusted to lead the negotiations, immediately denounced Biden’s proposal because it “shows a surprising lack of ability to negotiate.”
“It took just 24 hours for the Biden team to squander the most significant influence we have over Russia,” he said on Twitter.
“A better approach would be a short, six-month extension, conditional on reaching the limit of nuclear warheads that Putin accepted,” he said.
Several experts as well as anti-nuclear activists disagree with Billingslea’s analysis. They say there are no signs that Russia wants to give in or that China will join the deal.
“The only opponents are those looking for an unlimited arms race. I am glad to see that on Day One the administration dispenses with reckless chicken games with global security,” tweeted Vipin Narang, a nuclear strategy expert from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Derek Johnson, head of the anti-nuclear organization Global Zero, considered Biden’s proposal to be key to the eventual goal of a world without nuclear weapons.
“Unless you’re a defense contractor, that’s good news for everyone,” he said.