Biden extends START treaty with Russia

The United States has extended a key nuclear arms control treaty with Russia for five years, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Wednesday.

“Extending the New START Treaty makes the United States, U.S. allies and partners, and the world safer. An unconstrained nuclear competition would endanger us all,” Blinken said.

The treaty the only one left regulating the two largest nuclear arsenals in the world — was set to expire on February 5. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law extending the treaty for five years on Friday.

President Joe Biden made renewing the pact a priority when he entered office, even as he launched a review of Russian malfeasance ranging from the SolarWinds hack to the alleged bounties Moscow offered for the death of US troops in Afghanistan.

In a statement, Blinken said the extension of the New START Treaty allows for verifiable limits on Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers until February 5, 2026, and the treaty’s “verification regime enables us to monitor Russian compliance with the treaty and provides us with greater insight into Russia’s nuclear posture, including through data exchanges and on-site inspections that allow U.S. inspectors to have eyes on Russian nuclear forces and facilities.”

“We will also pursue arms control to reduce the dangers from China’s modern and growing nuclear arsenal,” Blinken added. “The United States is committed to effective arms control that enhances stability, transparency and predictability while reducing the risks of costly, dangerous arms races.”

The top US diplomat noted that “just as we engage the Russian Federation in ways that advance American interests, like seeking a five-year extension of New START and broader discussions to reduce the likelihood of crisis and conflict, we remain clear-eyed about the challenges that Russia poses to the United States and the world.”

“Even as we work with Russia to advance U.S. interests, so too will we work to hold Russia to account for adversarial actions as well as its human rights abuses, in close coordination with our allies and partners,” he said.

The US and allies were united in condemning Russia’s sentencing of opposition leader Alexey Navalny to two and a half years in jail, a step that will be part of Biden’s review of Russia policy, according to White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki. And European countries, which get access to information the US gleans from New START exchanges with Russia, had pushed for an extension of the nuclear treaty.