U.S. REJECTS RUSSIAN PROPOSAL FOR ONE-YEAR EXTENSION

The prospects for extending the last treaty limiting U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapons deployments appeared to grow bleaker on Friday, with Washington rejecting a Russian proposal for an unconditional one-year extension as “a non-starter.” The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty accord, signed in 2010 and due to expire in February, restricts the numbers of strategic nuclear warheads that Russia and the United States can deploy as well as the missiles and bombers that carry them. A failure to extend the pact would remove all of the constraints, threatening to fuel a post-Cold War arms race and tensions between the world’s two largest nuclear weapons powers. Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at a meeting by video link with Russia’s Security Council, said the treaty had worked effectively until now.