US official: Biden may extend START
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration is proposing to Russia a five-year extension of the New START treaty limiting the number of U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapons, U.S. officials said Thursday.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, planned to convey the extension proposal to Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., on Thursday, said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. A second U.S. official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the proposal but offered no details.
The move was almost certain to be welcomed by Russia and key American allies. NATO Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday called on the U.S. and Russia to extend the treaty and to later broaden it.
“We should not end up in a situation with no limitation on nuclear warheads, and New START will expire within days,” Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said “an extension of the New START is not the end, it’s the beginning of our efforts to further strengthen arms control.”
The treaty is set to expire Feb. 5 and is the last remaining agreement that constrains U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons. Signed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, it limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads.
President Donald Trump was critical of the deal, saying it put the U.S. at a disadvantage. His administration waited until last year to engage Russia in substantive talks on the treaty’s future. Trump insisted that China be added to the treaty, but Beijing rejected the idea.
Biden, who indicated during the campaign that he favored extending New START, is not proposing any alterations, the U.S. official said. Thus, it appeared likely that Moscow would be amenable to an extension.
The proposal was reported first by The Washington Post.