The Biden administration plans to extend the New START Treaty, Secretary of State Nominee Antony Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations committee holding a confirmation hearing for Blinken to serve as secretary of state on Tuesday.
“I think we are going to seek an extension,” he said. “This is something that the president-elect, I know, will have to take up almost immediately upon assuming office,” since “we have an agreement that is expiring in just 16 days of so,” Blinken said.
“What I can tell you is that I know we will be coming to you very quickly, almost immediately to discuss that,” he went on to say. “What I can say at this point that yes, we will seek to extend it,” the secretary of state nominee said.
New START
The Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the New START Treaty) was signed in 2010 and entered into force on February 5, 2011. The document stipulates that seven years after its entry into effect each party should have no more than a total of 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and strategic bombers, as well as no more than 1,550 warheads on deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs and strategic bombers, and a total of 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, SLBM launchers and strategic bombers.
Moscow has repeatedly called on Washington not to delay prolongation of the treaty it describes as the gold standards in the area of disarmament.
During his election campaign, US President-elect Joe Biden came out in favor of extending the treaty.
