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A ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile is launched from the Plesetsk facility during a drill in northwestern Russia, December 9, 2020. /AP
Vigorous efforts are needed for Russia and the United States to reach a deal on extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) nuclear arms control pact before it expires next month, the Kremlin said on Tuesday after security chiefs of the two sides discussed this matter in a phone call on Monday.
The Secretary of Russia's Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, discussed extending the New START arms treaty in a phone call with new U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Russian news agencies reported on Monday.
Regarding the conversation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow and Washington were stepping up efforts to extend the pact because its expiration was rapidly approaching.
"Vigorous efforts are required to secure an extension," Peskov told reporters on a conference call. "The extension is in the interest of both countries, as well as the whole world."
Jake Sullivan, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, speaks as Joe Biden announces his national security nominees and appointees at his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., November 24, 2020. /Reuters
New START, which was signed in 2010 and is set to expire on February 5, limits the numbers of strategic nuclear warheads, missiles and bombers that Russia and the United States can deploy.
A failure to extend New START could fuel a potential arms race and tensions between Moscow and Washington, defense experts have warned.
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Peskov made his comments a day after Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia's Security Council, discussed extending the treaty in a phone call with new U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
The White House said last week that U.S. President Joe Biden will seek a five-year extension to New START, the last major nuclear arms pact between the United States and Russia.
The Kremlin had said that it would welcome efforts by the Biden administration to extend the pact.
(With input from Reuters)
