Russia’s nuclear plea to Trump
RUSSIA on Tuesday called on the United States to make a “positive” proposal as the powers open talks on a major disarmament treaty, warning that US insistence on including China could scuttle efforts.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov will meet with US envoy Marshall Billingslea in Vienna on June 22 to start negotiations on New START, which expires in February.
President Donald Trump has walked out on a number of international agreements but voiced an interest in preserving New START, which obliged the US and Russia to halve their inventories of strategic nuclear missile launchers.
But the Trump administration said a successor to New START, a Cold War legacy negotiated under Barack Obama, should bring in China – whose nuclear arsenal is significantly smaller than those of Russia and the US.
Addressing the Council on Foreign Relations by videoconference, Mr Ryabkov said the US willingness to start negotiations was “good news” but “the ball is on the American part of the court”.
“We need to hear loudly and clearly what this administration wants, how it believes it would be possible to do something positive and not just to dismantle one arms control treaty or arrangement after another,” he said.
In Beijing, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that China had “no intention of participating” in the talks and accused the US of trying to “deflect responsibilities to others”.
Mr Billingslea urged China to reconsider.
“Achieving Great Power status requires behaving with Great Power responsibility,” he wrote on Twitter. “No more Great Wall of Secrecy on its nuclear build-up. Seat waiting for China in Vienna.”
GREAT POWER STATUS REQUIRES BEHAVING WITH GREAT POWER RESPONSIBILITY. NO MORE GREAT WALL OF SECRECY
MARSHALL BILLINGSLEA, US ENVOY
Mr Ryabkov indicated that Russia did not oppose the US invitation to China – an international ally of Moscow despite a complicated historical relationship – but doubted Beijing would agree.
He also said US allies Britain and France, nuclear powers with much smaller arsenals, should join the talks.
The US and Russia each had more than 6000 nuclear warheads in 2019, while China had 290, according to the Washington-based Arms Control Association.
Russia as well as some US Democrats have proposed extending New START temporarily, voicing scepticism about sealing a new treaty by February when there may be a change of president.