Russia OKs New START extension

MOSCOW – Russian lawmakers on Wednesday quickly approved the extension of the last remaining RussiaU.S. nuclear arms control treaty, a fasttrack action that comes just days before it’s due to expire.

Both houses of parliament voted unanimously to extend the New START treaty for five years, a day after a phone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin said they agreed to complete the necessary extension procedures in the next few days.

Speaking via video link to the World Economic Forum’s virtual meeting, Putin hailed the decision to extend the treaty as “a step in the right direction” but warned of rising global rivalries and threats of new conflicts.

The pact’s extension doesn’t require congressional approval in the United States, but Russian lawmakers must ratify the move, and Putin has to sign the relevant bill into law.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told lawmakers that the extension will be validated by exchanging diplomatic notes once all the procedures are completed.

The upper house speaker, Valentina Matvienko, said after the vote that the decision to extend the pact shows that Russia and the U.S. can reach agreements on major issues despite the tensions between them.

The treaty, signed in 2010, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, and it envisages sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance.